New York Times best-selling author Patrick McDonnell is the creator of the award-winning MUTTS comic strip. Always striking a delicate balance between lighthearted fun and responsible social commentary, MUTTS has been recognized by critics and popular press alike for its distinctive style, heartwarming humor, and strong yet non-preachy stance on important animal and environmental issues.

Created in 1994, Mutts appears in more than 700 newspapers and in 20 countries. It has been described by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz as one of the best comic strips of all time. McDonnell has received numerous awards for this comic, including the National Cartoonists Society’s highest honor, The Reuben, for Cartoonist of the Year. MUTTS has also won awards for its environmental and animal advocacy. The Mutts cartoons have been published in more than 25 compilation books in the United States and in numerous collections throughout the world.

The Gift of Nothing was McDonnell’s first children’s book, and it quickly became a New York Times bestseller. The book was transformed into a children’s play, commissioned by The Kennedy center in 2014, and won a Helen Hayes Award for Best Adaptation. McDonnell has produced nine additional picture books (including the 2012 Caldecott Honor-winning Me...Jane, a biography of Jane Goodall) and Thank you and Good Night, a New York Times Notable Book for 2015. McDonnell has collaborated withauthor Eckhart Tolle on Guardians of Being: Spiritual Teaching from Our Dogs and Cats.

MUTTS is currently under development as an animated feature-length film for Twentieth Century Fox. McDonnell was involved in character design for the Pixar animated film Up. His drawings for the film were reproduced in The Art of Up.

McDonnell and MUTTS will be featured in an upcoming episode of “Shelter Me on PBS which will be aired on May 7, 2016.

McDonnell has appeared on CNN, The “Today” Show, PBS and on Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday.” He is a member of the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States, the Fund for Animals and the Charles M. Schulz Museum. His MUTTS characters have been enlisted for campaigns by the United States Marines (Toys for Tots), and the American Library Association (‘Read!'). They appear on New Jersey Animal Friendly license plates and in animated Public Service Announcements for The Shelter Pet Project. His work has also been animated for a PSA for the New York Philharmonic. McDonnell’s website, Mutts.com, promotes his animal- and earth-friendly philosophy and strives to strengthen the bond we all share with animals.