Neil’s country childhood fuelled a playful imagination. Following a successful career as a designer, he found his happy place writing and illustrating for children. His books have featured on CBeebies Bedtime Stories and in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Location: North Yorkshire, UK.
Born in the Philippines, Emma Farrarons grew up in Paris, France. She studied art at Edinburgh College and Paris’s École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. A childrens’ book designer for many years, she also created colouring books including the international best-seller The Mindfulness Colouring Book. During the Pandemic Emma decided to take the plunge and dedicate herself to becoming a children’s author and illustrator. In 2025 she won the coveted Klaus Flugge Prize for the first picture book she had ever illustrated, called My Hair is as Long as a River. In addition to publishing her own author-illustrator picture book in 2026, Emma also writes and illustrates the Wands Away first reader series.
Fabi Santiago is the author and illustrator of Tiger in a Tutu, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. After studying art and design in Rio de Janeiro, Fabi she graduated with an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. Fabi’s illustrations are full of movement and bold limited colours, and her medium of choice is screen-printing. She lives in London and has two cats, Daisy and Bear.
Ella is a freelance illustrator whose work can mostly be found in children’s picture books. She works mainly digitally, likes to incorporate lots of texture in her artwork and enjoys using limited yet lively colour palettes. Some of her favourite things to draw include children, animals and ghosts. Location: Milton Keynes, UK.
Laurie Stansfield grew up in Oxford, England, but packed her bags and moved west to study illustration at the University of the West of England. She is the illustrator of a host of great books including Poems Out Loud!, published by Penguin UK,. Her self-published work was highly commended by the Macmillan Prize for Illustration in the UK. Laurie lives with her family in Bristol, United Kingdom.
Rhian Stone is a self-taught illustrator who grew up on a diet of magic, folklore and myth. She works in gouche, pencil and pastel. Hard as it is to believe, Grandad’s Star is her debut book. Location: Kent, UK.
Moesha is a London-based illustrator with a love of the great outdoors. She can often be found tote bag in hand with her sketchbook and a handful of drawing tools rattling around inside and possibly a pencil in her hair. Drawing inspiration from her childhood in Somerset, her love of nature, people watching and exploring the outdoors, many of her illustrations contain a playful use of shapes, colours and characters, with humour often in the details. Slug Life is her first book.
Aysha’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and as cover art for Anorak magazine. She also won her category in the 2020 World Illustration Awards. BABOO THE UNUSUAL BEE is her debut book.
Ruby studied sculpture, which informs her distinctive illustration stvle but doesn’t explain why she plays the musical saw. She lives in a flat with her Mr, two very funny children and absolutely no pets. Animal Crackers was her debut book and Invisible Dogs is her stand-out second title. Location: London, UK.
