Paul Howard

Award-winning illustrator Paul Howard has worked with some of the best children’s books writers (Ahlberg, Willis, Rosen) and his illustrations are loved by young readers throughout the world. He is probably best known for his work on Jill Tomlinson’s animal stories, notably The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark. Paul lives in Belfast, with his book-loving family.

David Mackintosh

An Australian now living in London, David Mackintosh is an acclaimed graphic designer and illustrator who has worked with some of the biggest names in children’s publishing. His new picture book What’s Up, MuMu? is published with HarperCollins in 2015. Visit his website www.profuselyillustrated.com

Ella Okstad

Ella Okstad is an illustrator born in Trondheim, Norway, where she lives with her husband, three children and a cat. Since graduating from Kent Institute of Art and Design in 2000 she has been working with well-known publishers and designers in Norway, UK and the US. She illustrates the book series Squishy McFluff written by Pip Jones and published by Faber Children’s. Visit her website www.okstad.com

Quentin Blake

Sir Quentin Blake (born 1932) is an English illustrator and children’s writer. He is best known for his illustrations of stories by Roald Dahl. Visit his website: www.quentinblake.com

Gary Blythe

Gary Blythe broke onto the children’s-book scene with the Kate Greenaway Medal-winner The Whales’ Song (by Dyan Sheldon) in 1990 and hasn’t stopped illustrating the works of the best children’s book writers since (Michael Morpurgo, Geraldine McCaughrean). Gary was born in Liverpool, lives in the Wirral, loves to paint and is terrible at writing biographies about himself.

Peter Bailey

Peter Bailey was born in India and grew up in London. Since graduating from Brighton College of Art, his career has seen him illustrate books by some of Britain’s best known authors including Allan Ahlberg, Alexander McCall Smith, Philip Pullman, Joan Aiken and Tony Mitton. For twenty years he also taught illustration at Liverpool School Of Art, and many of his students have gone on to great success. Much of his work has been for children, but he has also illustrated books for adults for The Folio Society, including a collection of John Betjeman’s poems.

Ella Bailey

Ella Bailey is an illustrator based in Nottingham, having studied Illustration at Falmouth University. Her focus is on character-based illustrations, particularly for children’s books.

Kate Hindley

Kate Hindley lives and works in Birmingham. She studied illustration at Falmouth College of Art, and went on to work for two years as a children’s print designer at a studio in Northampton, whilst working freelance on children’s books and greetings cards.

Axel Scheffler

Axel Scheffler was born in Hamburg, Germany. He studied History of Art, before moving to the United Kingdom to study illustration at Bath Academy of Art in 1982. Since then he has worked as a freelance illustrator in London. He is best known for the children’s books he has illustrated through his partnership with author Julia Donaldson. Together they created The Gruffalo, which has sold over 13 million copies, in over 70 languages. He lives in London.

Read an interview with Axel Scheffler here

Chris Riddell

Chris Riddell is the creator of a wide range of books which have won many illustration awards including the UNESCO Prize, the Greenaway Medal (twice) and the Hay Festival Medal for Illustration. In 2015 he was appointed Children’s Laureate.