Hay Festival

Sorry I have not posted on here in a while. I have had the best (if slightly crazy) 10 days working at the Hay Festival, as well as having a fab time with family and friends and keeping my college work ticking over. I did manage to spend a bit of time in the college workshops, so will have some prints to show you soon.

But I just wanted to tell you about some of the amazing experiences I have had over the past 10 days.

First, I got to see the actual Oscar won by The Lost Thing which was based on the book by Shaun Tan, who I happened to write about for college. The Passion Pictures producer Andrew Ruhemann was discussing the 2011 Oscar-winning short The Lost Thing and talking about working with Alexander ‘Simples’ Orlov and the Gorillaz, amongst others. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the event, and was more excited about spotting The lost Thing dvd than the Oscar, but never mind!

One of Hannah's books

I would like to say a big thank you to the lovely author/illustrator Hannah Shaw, Hay Fever’s official illustrator for 2011, who met me for a cup of tea and a chat. She was so easy to talk to and gave me some really valuable tips and advice about how to make a living as an illustrator. Thank you Hannah!

Next was a talk by the wonderful Judith Kerr, who is possibly best known for Mog and The Tiger Who Came to Tea. She told us about her life, from her birth in Germany in 1923, through her influences and experiences, to her latest book My Henry. It felt like a real privilege to have the opportunity to listen to her and to here her read My Henry to us. 

Friday was Kate Wilson, the managing director of Nosy Crow. As described on their website - Nosy Crow are "a new, independent company, publishing children’s books and apps" who "publish high-quality, commercial fiction and non-fiction books for children aged from 0 to 14 from both well-known authors and illustrators and new talent". One of their illustrators is Axel Scheffler, and it was Kate Wilson who suggested him as the illustrator for Julia Donaldson’s first picture book text, A Squash and a Squeeze. This was the start of a hugely successful partnership: their bestselling modern classic, The Gruffalo, has sold over three-and-a-half million copies worldwide.

Nosy Crow also "make innovative, multimedia, highly interactive apps for tablets, smart phones and other touchscreen devices. These apps are not existing books squashed onto phones, but instead are specially created to take advantage of the devices to tell stories and provide information to children in new and engaging ways. The talk was about whether Appa are the new picture books. It was really worth going to, and Kate has been kind enough to summarise her opinions and put some useful links on their website if you want to find out more. 


I was attending as both a mother and an illustration student. As a mother it was really interesting to hear Kate's arguments for allowing children to interact with technology in a constructive way. Her argument that they will choose to engage anyway and the benefits of providing a constructive interface I found very compelling. As an illustration student, it has certainly given me food for thought about what I choose to investigate whilst at college, and potential future directions for my work.

We are just dashing out now as it is the last day of the Hay Festival  and we have tickets to see Viv Schwarz and Lynne Chapman. Can't wait!