It’s my responsibility to draw out the emotion behind the words on the page.
Ann James
Ann James was an art teacher before she took up children’s book illustration over twenty years ago. She has illustrated more than 60 books since. Some well-known favorites include the Penny Pollard series by Robin Klein, The Midnight Gang and The Midnight Feast by Margaret Wild, the Hannah series by Libby Gleeson, The Butterfly by Roger Vaughan Carr, Little Humpty by Margaret Wild, Shutting the Chooks In by Libby Gleeson and many more. Ann has also written and illustrated some picture books of her own, One Day, Finding Jack, Bird and Bear. She delights in being playful and experimental with the materials she chooses to work with. In illustrating I am a Dirty Dinosaur she used real mud as a medium and in I am a Hungry Dinosaur real chocolate and sugar sprinkles! She describes her style as “character driven and spontaneous, with humour and humanity at heart”. A number of Ann’s books won CBCA awards as well as Children’s Choice awards around Australia. Together with Ann Haddon they run Books Illustrated, a bookshop and illustrations gallery in Melbourne and curate wonderful illustrations exhibitions touring Australia’s regional galleries. In 2000 Ann was awarded the Pixie O’Harris award and was also the 2002 recipient of the Dromkeen Medal for services towards children’s literature. In 2016 Ann James and Ann Haddon were made the Member of the Order of Australia for their work in children’s literature.
