Rolf Heimann (1940-) Biography

(Lofo)

Personal

Born 1940, in Dresden, Germany; immigrated to Australia, 1959; Education: Studied at graphic art studios in Frankfurt, Germany, 1956–57. Politics: Australian Green Party; "Pacifist." Hobbies and other interests: Languages, marine ecology.

Career

Writer, cartoonist, and illustrator. Worked variously as a fruit picker, railway worker, and factory worker, c. 1960s; Unigraphic (graphic design studio), Melbourne, Australia, founder, 1968; has worked in fields of advertising, printing, and publishing.

Member

Australian Black and White Artists Association, Humanist Association of Australia.

Honors Awards

Named Australian Cartoonist of the Year, Stan Cross Awards, 2003; WACOM Award for Best Digital Illustrations, 2003.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN; SELF-ILLUSTRATED UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

(Illustrator) Robin Klein, Junk Castle, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1983.

A City by a River, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1985.

For Eagle Eyes Only, Troll Communications (Metuchen, NJ), 1990.

Amazing Mazes: Mind-bending Mazes for Ages Six to Sixty, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1990.

Preposterous Puzzles, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1991.

More for Eagle Eyes, Periscope Press, 1991.

Awesome Alpha Maze, Periscope Press, 1992.

Bizarre Brainbenders, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1992.

Ultimaze, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1993.

Amazing Mazes II, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1995.

Ultimaze Book, Troll Communications (Metuchen, NJ), 1995.

Amazing Mazes Two, Troll Communications (Metuchen, NJ), 1996.

Bizarre Brain Benders, Troll Communications (Metuchen, NJ), 1997.

Mega Mind-Twisters, Troll Communications (Metuchen, NJ), 1997.

Totally Amazing Games and Puzzles, Troll Communications (Metuchen, NJ), 1997.

Amazing Mazes Three, Troll Communications (Metuchen, NJ), 1997.

Drain Your Brain, Troll Communications (Metuchen, NJ), 1998.

Brain-baffling Picture Puzzles, Troll Communications (Metuchen, NJ), 1999.

Sydney through Time, Roland Harvey (Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1999.

Day of the Dragon, Roland Harvey (Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 2000.

Rolf Heimann's Amazing Mazes Four, Roland Harvey (Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 2000.

Seven Little Aliens: Seven Short Stories, privately published (Albert Park, Victoria, Australia), 2001.

Zoodiac: The Year of the Maze, Little Hare (Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia), 2002.

Tom, Lothian (South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 2002.

Hamlet and Piglet, Lothian Books (South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 2002.

Rolf Heimann's Creepy Conundrums, Puffin Books (Camberwell, Victoria, Australia), 2003.

Rolf Heimann's Brain Busting Bonanza, Little Hare (Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia), 2003.

Amazing Picture Puzzles: Mazes, Mindbenders, and More, Sterling (New York, NY), 2003.

Picture Puzzle Mysteries: Whodunits You Can See, Sterling (New York, NY), 2003.

At War with the Tooth Fairies, Lothian Books (Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 2003.

A Kingdom for a Hat, illustrated by John Spooner, Lothian Books (Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 2003.

The Astounding Astromaze, Little Hare (Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia), 2003.

Puzzlemazia, Little Hare (Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia), 2004.

Live's like a Crocodile, Little Hare (Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia), 2004.

Dimension X, Lothian Books (South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 2004.

Rolf's Flummoxing Flabbergasters, Little Hare (Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia), 2005.

Rolf's Crazy Capers, Little Hare (Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia), 2005.

Rolf Heimann's What's up at Crowfoot Castle, Puffin Books (Camberwell, Victoria, Australia), 2005.

The Royal Flea, Little Hare (Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia), 2005.

OTHER

(Co-compiler and illustrator with Sheena Stewart) The Fishbook, Mills & Ashworth (Albert Park, Victoria, Australia), 1970.

Knocking on Heaven's Door, Friends of the Earth, 1978.

Unfair to Hypocrites (cartoons), Friends of the Earth, 1978.

No Emus for Antarctica (cartoons), privately printed, 1978.

(Editor) No Fission: A Collection of Anti-Nuclear Cartoons by Australian Artists, Access Magazine/Melbourne Bookworkers Press (Albert Park, Victoria, Australia), 1983.

Wattle and Dope (novel), Angus & Robertson (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1986.

Also author of several books published by Roland Harvey. Editor and publisher, Access, 1980–85. Contributor of cartoons to WittyWorld.com. Some works have been published under the pseudonym Lofo.

Heimann's books have been translated into several languages.

Sidelights

Rolf Heimann once told SATA: "I was born in Dresden in 1940 and escaped from communist East Germany to West Germany in 1955. I started a cabinet-making apprenticeship in Hamburg, moved to Frankfurt in 1956, went to evening art classes, and migrated to Australia in 1959.

"I worked as a fruit picker, on railways, and in factories throughout Australia, always sketching and writing. With improving knowledge of the English language, I started to do graphic and photographic work in printing, advertising, and publishing. I traveled around the world in 1965, stopping at the islands of the Pacific and the Caribbean. In 1968 I opened my own graphic design studio, Unigraphic, in Melbourne, and started to do cartoons and illustrations for books. In 1974 and 1975 I participated in protests against French nuclear testing on Muroroa, skippering the ketch La Flor to the nuclear testing zone. I spent two years sailing the Pacific, sometimes single-handedly. This trip resulted in the book Knocking on Heaven's Door, published by Friends of the Earth in 1978. I married a Samoan girl and had two children.

"From 1980 to 1985 I published and edited the alternative magazine Access. I published two collections of my own cartoons and co-published several cartoon anthologies. I published cartoons, articles, and short stories in a number of magazines. The novel Wattle and Dope was published in 1986. With the success of the first children's books, especially For Eagle Eyes Only, I concentrated more and more on writing and illustrating juvenile literature. More than twenty titles were published by Roland Harvey of Melbourne, many of which were translated into German, Danish, Spanish, Korean, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese. I have also participated in cartooning conferences in Hungary, France, Japan, China, New Zealand, and Cuba."