Illustration

Sarah Davis: Re-drawing our classic books

Margaret Mahy’s The Christmas Tree Tangle was originally published in 1994, and a newly illustrated edition was released by Puffin in November 2017. We ​asked illustrator​ ​Sarah Davis​ ​to​ ​talk​ ​about​ ​the​ ​process​ ​of​ ​re-illustrating an​ ​existing​ ​book, to which…

The Giselle Clarkson Comic: Number 10

Our beloved illustrator Giselle Clarkson has fallen in love again… with another book! Scroll down to see her brilliant review of Impossible Inventions: Ideas that shouldn’t work by Matgorzata Mycielska, Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński (Gecko Press).

The Giselle Clarkson Comic: Number 9

Our biscuit & bird illustrator Giselle Clarkson has taken on her first *current* book review! Scroll down to get a brilliant perspective on How to Mend a Kea + Other Fabulous Fix-it Tales from Wildbase Hospital, by Janet Hunt (Massey…

Ned Barraud: A day in the life of an illustrator

The superb New Zealand writer and illustrator team, Gillian Candler and Ned Barraud, have recently released their sixth collaboration in the Explore and Discover series, Up the River. Today Ned gives us a peek behind the scenes and tells us…

Gavin Bishop’s Voyages of Discovery

We get two legends together for this extraordinary interview about an extraordinary book, Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story. Donovan Bixley interviews Gavin Bishop. Rain is hammering the roof of my studio in Taupō, so my ears are squinting to hear…

Across the Ditch: Freya Blackwood Chases Rabbits

Children’s book designer Vida Kelly has worked with Freya Blackwood at various times throughout Freya’s career as an illustrator. This wonderful interview is part of our ‘Across the Ditch’ series. Freya Blackwood is a multi award-winning children’s author and illustrator….

The Giselle Clarkson Comic: Number 7

Our illustrator Giselle Clarkson has been thinking very hard about the classic Little Golden Book, Kathryn Jackson and Gustaf Tenggren’s The Tawny Scrawny Lion.

The Giselle Clarkson Comic: Number 5

One of the lessons of childhood is that not everything has a happy ending. Or a tidy ending. Or an ending that can be understood … Here’s Giselle Clarkson celebrating the inexplicable pull of ambiguity, and those books that invite…