Didier Ghez has conducted Disney research since he was a teenager in the mid '80s. His articles about the parks, animation, and vintage international Disneyana, as well as his many interviews with Disney artists, have appeared in such magazines as Persistence of Vision, Tomart's Disneyana Update, Animation Journal, Animation Magazine, StoryboarD, and Fantasyline. He is the co-author of the art book Disneyland Paris - From Sketch to Reality, runs The Disney History Blog (disneybooks.blogspot.com), The Disney Books Network website (www.pizarro.net/didier), and serves as managing editor of the Walt's People series.
By launching the Walt's People series to collect the best Disney interviews ever conducted - uncut and uncensored - Didier hopes to re-animate Disney research.
Key Disney historians have accepted Didier’s invitation to contribute to the project, which gives him access to the source materials they use for their works. Most of those interviews are being published for the first time in their entirety. Along with Robin Allan, Paul F. Anderson, Mike Barrier, Albert Becattini, John Canemaker, John Culhane, Pete Docter, Christopher Finch, J.B. Kaufman, Jim Korkis, Christian Renaut, Linda Rosenkrantz, Dave Smith, and Charles Solomon, Didier is also uncovering new or quasi-unknown material almost daily that he hopes to release in the upcoming volumes of this series.
Didier aims to include in the series as many interviews as possible from artists who worked directly with Walt and thereby provide first-hand knowledge about the history of Disney. He believes this should prove to be a fundamental source of information for future researchers.
For the sake of clarity: the Walt's People project's goal is not to earn money. Every time the cost of publishing one volume is recouped, the money will be reinvested in the publication of the next. Any surplus funds will be shared among the contributors.
Didier aims to publish one volume of Walt's People every nine to twelve months and hopes the series proves to be most informative, even to dedicated Disney historians or enthusiasts.
Happy Reading!
