Esembly: What's your all time favorite thing to draw?
Oliver Jeffers: Probably lightbulbs. Not quite sure
E: Favorite part of the night sky?
OJ: The moon.
E: Let's say you're given a ticket to space next week, would you take it?
OJ: I think I’d have to.
E: Do you believe in aliens?
OJ: I think it's arrogant to rule out it's not a possibility.
E: If you were a planet, which planet would you be? why?
OJ: Planet Earth. It is the least lonely part of space.
E: What's the first thing you do after you put your kids to bed?
OJ: It depends on how cooperative they were. Ideally, it's to watch a show with my wife, but sometimes I have to go back to work. It's also not uncommon that we all just fall asleep at the same time.
E: What’s the story/inspiration behind the Cosmos design you created for this project?
OJ: I like playing with the idea that someone somewhere made up the constellation lines connecting the stars, as an attempt to make sense out of chaos. I often substitute out the stars for man made objects to have fun with the notion that everything is connected.
E: What does environmentalism mean to you, and how do you inspire your kids to love and protect the earth?
OJ: It means remembering you are part of a single system, and that it is short sighted to believe we can keep taking and there will always be plenty there. We talk with our kids about trying to return our waste to the earth as food rather than poison.
