2022 Naked Mole Rat
2022

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Underground Rock Experience!

Naked Mole Gets Dressed: The Underground Rock Experience! is a 3D animated special based on the musical. Currently on view on the YouTube channel.

2022 Beethoven Symphonies Abstracted
2022

Beethoven Symphonies Abstracted

For the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birthday, Mo creates nine large-scale, painted abstractions inspired by Beethoven’s nine symphonies. The exhibition, Beethoven Symphonies Abstracted, is shown alongside the performance of the symphonies at the Kennedy Center.

 

MORE
2021 We Are All Connected!
2021

We Are All Connected!

Hundreds of community members join Mo to create a Large-Scale Public Art Playscape on the REACH Plaza at the Kennedy Center. Different awesome teams placed huge dots for Mo to connect! He even gets a tattoo (his first and only!) based on the project. Now that's dedication.

MORE
2020 First TV special!
2020

First TV special!

Don't Let the Pigeon Do Storytime a comedy concert featuring Mo and his celebrity pals (The Celebrity All-Stars) is a read-aloud, sing-a-long drawing filled spectacular! The performance is filmed and edited into a super awesome hour-long special.

2020 Lunch Doodles
2020

Lunch Doodles

Mo doodles at home (and with you!) after the pandemic hits. It turns into a 15 episode series, and inspires the one-off Yo Yo Mo Show, a musical doodling session with Yo Yo Ma.

MORE
2019 Kennedy Center Residency
2019

Kennedy Center Residency!

The Kennedy Center for the Arts names Mo their inaugural Education Artist in Residence! Over the course of several years, Mo collaborates with artists from all sorts of disciplines, and works together with them to make Jazz, Classical music, Dance, Theater, Comedy, Art Installations and other Community Projects.

MORE
2018 Unlimited Squirrels
2018

Unlimited Squirrels

The first book of Mo's new series, Unlimited Squirrels, is published. Longer than an Elephant & Piggie book, they include bonus jokes, quizzes, AND facts in addition to the main adventure. (Spoiler: they also feature a lot of squirrels).

MORE
2016 The Art & Whimsy of Mo Willems
2016

The Art & Whimsy of Mo Willems

The Art & Whimsy of Mo Willems, a solo retrospective of Mo's work opens at the New-York Historical Society.

2013 Elephant & Piggie's: We are in a Play!
2013

Elephant & Piggie's: We are in a Play!

Elephant & Piggie's: We are in a Play! is Mo’s second musical and an adaptation of 6 different Elephant & Piggie books. Originated at the Kennedy Center, the show goes on to tour, play Off-Broadway, and continues to be produced today.

MORE
2013 A Year in Paris
2013

A Year in Paris

Mo moves to Paris with his family and spends one year painting and writing in France. Books written in France include Nanette’s Baguette and Diva and Flea, illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi.

MORE
EVEN MORE
2010 Knuffle Bunny: The Musical
2010

Knuffle Bunny: The Musical

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical premieres at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, then tours the nation. To date, Mo has written 4 musicals and two short operas based on his books.

MORE
2007 Meet Elephant and Piggie!
2007

Meet Elephant and Piggie!

The first of 25 Elephant & Piggie books are published. Mo is awarded his first Theodore Seuss Geisel medal for There is a Bird on your Head.

MORE
2003 Mo's first book is published
2003

Mo's first book is published

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! is Mo’s very first published book. The book is a New York Times bestseller, wins a Caledecott honor, and is inducted into the Picture Book Hall of Fame. The response encourages Mo to keep making children’s books.

MORE
2002 Code Name: Kids Next Door
2002

Code Name: Kids Next Door

Mo serves as headwriter for his best friend, Mr. Warburton's hit show on Cartoon Network for the first four seasons.

2001 A baby?
2001

A baby?

Cher and Mo's son, Trix Willems joins the team. He appears as a baby on Elmo's World not long after.

2000 Sheep in the Big City!
2000

Sheep in the Big City!

Mo’s short lived animated series Sheep in the Big City has it all: Sketch comedy, military spoofs, an urban sheep and a ranting Swede, a combination that make it a cult classic.

1998 Elmo's World!
1998

Elmo's World!

While at Sesame Street, Mo helps develop Elmo's World. He also serves as the animation director for the first season, and manages to sneak his signature into the logo.

1997 Married!
1997

Married!

Mo and Cher Camp are married in Brooklyn. A producer for television, actress and all-around smart person, Cher continues to use her skills to make the Mo Willems Workshop awesome today.

1996 The Off-Beats
1995

The Offbeats!

Mo's first animated series The Off-Beats starts as inerstitials on Nickelodeon before moving to KaBlam! where it ends with a half hour Valentine's Day special.

1994 The Sesame Street Era
1994

The Sesame Street Era

Mo is hired as a writer on Sesame Street, where he goes on to win 6 Emmy awards for writing over the course of 9 seasons.

1990 1990 Mo is a Filmmaker!
1990

The Man Who Yelled!

The Man Who Yelled! is Mo's senior year animation project. The animated short gets picked up by the Tournée of Animation and screened across the nation.

1987 The Sterile Yak!
1987

The Sterile Yak!

While attending NYU, Mo helps found a sketch comedy group called The Sterile Yak. The group eventually splits off into multiple troupes, including the group that became MTV's The State. Mo still works with his comedy pals from those days.

1985 Mo's Comic Strip
1985

Mo's Comic Strip

Mo's first paid gig as a cartoonist is a single panel strip in a local weekly real estate publication- a syndicated strip he names Surrealty.

1978 TV Journalist!
 
1978

1978 TV Journalist!

At age 10, Mo works as a kid reporter for “Hey Kids, It's for You" on WGNO (New Orleans's Channel 26). He stays on for two seasons.

1973 Letter to a Hero
1973

Letter to a Hero

At age 5, Mo writes a letter to Charles Schulz, the creator of the strip Peanuts. It reads "Can I have your job when you're dead?"

1968 Mo is Born
1968

Mo is Born

This was kind of a big deal for Mo. Born in Des Plaines, Illinois, he moves to New Orleans, Louisiana at age 4.