Anglia Ruskin University

Martin Salisbury is Professor of Illustration and Course Leader for the MA Children's Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. Since leaving art school he has worked for many years as a book illustrator, illustrating over fifty books in the areas of children's fiction, non-fiction and education. He also exhibits paintings and prints. In recent years he has written widely on the subject of illustration for children, including 'Illustrating Children's Books' (A&C Black, 2004) and 'Play Pen: New Children's Book Illustration' (Laurence King, 2007), both of which are now published in numerous languages worldwide.

Martin was a member of the judging panel for the 2007 Bologna Ragazzi Awards and is currently working with BBC television on a new series of programmes on children's books. He has a particular interest in 'sense of place' in children's picture books and the influence of post-war British neo-romantic painting on the field.

John Lawrence is the Visiting Professor in Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. He is one of Britain's best-loved book illustrators and a winner of many awards. During a career spanning five decades he has illustrated around two hundred books and collaborated with authors such as Charles Causley, Paul Theroux, Philippa Pearce, Richard Adams, Martin Wadell and, currently, Philip Pullman. He is particularly known as an engraver, one of very few contemporary artists to use wood engraving in mainstream illustration as well as for private-press work. Recently he has explored processes that combine vinyl engraving with digital assemblage in his picture books for Walker Books.

Pam Smy is Senior Lecturer in Illustration at Cambridge School of Art (0.6). She combines her lecturing with ongoing illustration for children. Her recent book with Gruffalo writer, Julia Donaldson, 'Follow the Swallow' (Egmont, 2007) has been favourably reviewed in the national press. She also works with the publishers Frances Lincoln, A&C Black and Walker Books.

Pam's work focuses on narrative drawing with a particular interest in the history and contemporary use of black and white artwork. She has worked widely with children's book groups, schools and libraries, both as artist and as lecturer and acted as co-editor of Martin Salisbury's book, 'Play Pen.'

Dr Mick Gowar is a writer, poet, performer and teacher. Since 1980 he has written or edited more than 100 books for children and young people and visited schools, libraries, colleges and festivals throughout the UK and abroad to give readings, performances and lead writing workshops. He has also worked with many leading UK orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia 21, and the Britten Sinfonia.

Mick has taught courses in creative writing and children's literature at the universities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Northumbria, Arvon Foundation and Taliesin Trust and is at present a part-time lecturer in the Cambridge School of Art at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.

James Mayhew studied illustration at Maidstone College of Art, graduating in 1987 with First Class Honours. His first book for children, 'Katie's Picture Show' (Orchard Books), was published in 1989, beginning his million-selling series of books introducing the work of famous artists to children. There are now nine books about Katie, exploring artists from the Italian Renaissance to Post-Impressionism.

A passionate advocate of art and culture for the very young, James's books range from Shakespearean anthologies through to grand opera and, most recently, ballet, with the Ella Bella Ballerina series. James has now published over 60 books for children and has illustrated works by many well known contemporary writers: Philippa Pearce's 'Beauty And The Beast' (Macdonald), Elisabeth Beresford's 'Lizzie's War' (Hodder), Martin Waddell's 'Boneless And The Tinker' (Orchard Books), Joyce Dunbar's 'Mouse & Mole' books (Corgi - adapted for television in 1997, featuring the voices of Alan Bennett and Richard Briers), and Jenny Koralek's 'The Boy And The Cloth Of Dreams' (Walker Books).

James is also a member of the Art Worker's Guild and the Society Of Authors.

 

Dr Sarah McConnell is a published author/artist of picturebooks and has been working in the field for nine years. Her research seeks to shed light on the picturebook medium as an art form by investigating, through practice, how the picturebook can be used as a vehicle for creative expression. It also examines whether this creative activity is inhibited or enhanced by the professional considerations of producing a published book. This practice-led research takes the form of a published picturebook, which has been written and illustrated for research purposes; accompanied by a reflective commentary which focuses on creative objectives within the visual practice. It also includes interviews with three eminent author/artists in the field.

 

Dr Katherina Manolessou is a highly regarded illustrator who has worked for numerous clients including the Guardian newspaper, Random House, Bloomsbury Publishing and Time Out magazine. She originally studied chemistry before moving into animation and going on to study at the Royal College of Art in London. Her research focuses on animal characterisation in picture books.

 

Alexis Deacon is an award winning artist whose picturebooks, both as author-illustrator and illustrator, have had a major impact on the genre in recent years. His first book, 'Slow Loris' (Random House, 2003) was developed as an undergraduate project and went on to receive general critical acclaim. 'Beegu' and 'While You are Sleeping' (Random House) followed and Deacon was named one of the UK's 'Best New Illustrators' by Booktrust. An exceptional draughtsman, in 2009 he spent some months as sponsored Artist in Residence in the Galapagos Islands. Alexis is a regular visiting lecturer on the MA Children's Book Illustration programme.

Zoe Jaques is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Childhood and Youth Research Institute. She has published articles on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Water-Babies, the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, and the Harry Potter series. These articles investigate the boundaries of human/childhood identity in relation to posthumanism and ecology. Her forthcoming Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass: A Publishing History has been contracted as a co-authored book in Ashgate's 'Studies in Publishing History.' This book analyses both the material transformations of the texts over time and their intellectual, cultural, and social histories. Her second book, Children's Literature and the Posthuman, is in preparation.

Helena Major is a lecturer in Illustration in the Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, Portugal. Over the years, she has combined lecturing with exhibitions of her artwork in several galleries across the country. Recently she was invited to create illustrations for an English language manual Follow the Sounds, Reading Method, Phonetic Approach to be distributed this year in various schools in India, Nepal and Ethiopia. Her interdisciplinary PhD is based in her practice and is supported by the Portuguese Government. The research project consists of a critical interpretation of the book of Ecclesiastes, exploring the potential of a picturebook to create a visual narrative about the underlying meanings of the text in dialogue with related passages of the Bible. Through theory and creative practice, Ecclesiastes is investigated to bring an ancient text to a modern context and to reveal the contemporaneity of its message for our times.

Peter Cook is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, with degrees in English and Art Education. Peter spent ten years in Africa and the Middle East, where he taught Literature in universities, and learned the art of pottery from traditional craftspeople. On returning to England he worked as a studio potter for some years, but was gradually drawn back to university teaching and research. His research interests fall into two main areas: Romanticism and its Legacy, and Notions of Childhood in Literature and Art, 1770 - the present. He has presented papers at the most recent conferences on children's literature and illustration at Homerton and Roehampton; these will appear shortly as chapters in books. Peter has been invited to present a paper at a conference at Glasgow University in July 2008.

Professor Eugene Giddens is the Skinner-Young Professor in Shakespeare and has particular expertise in editing. His research is funded by the AHRC and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is currently writing an article about the influence of Margaret Cavendish's 'Blazing World' on Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials'. His next major editing project in the field will be an edition of Charles Kingsley's 'The Water-Babies'.