Illustrator

Viola Wang

Viola Wang is a visual artist and author working in painting, bookmaking, illustration, murals, and education. Diversity and inclusion are underlying themes throughout Viola’s practice as an artist and storyteller. As an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, her books have been translated into multiple languages and distributed globally. 

She enjoys experimenting with a wide range of printmaking techniques and developing various visual languages for her illustration and fine-art practice. Her recent prints have been exhibited in the RA Summer Show, the Transport Museum for London, and Woolwich Contemporary Art Fair. Viola is also a passionate educator, specializing in illustration for children’s literature. She has taught at Cambridge School of Art, the University for Creative Arts and Kingston University. Viola grew up in Beijing, China; she currently lives and works in Kennington, London. Viola was also longlisted for The Klaus Flugge Prize (2021).

Publisher

Jenny Stephenson

Originally from a fine art background, Jenny is a freelance art director and designer with over 15 years’ experience working in children’s publishing, specialising in picture books and young fiction. Previously she worked at Hachette Children’s Group where she collaborated with high-profile illustrators and authors such as Jim Field and Cressida Cowell, helping make brands such as Oi Frog and How to Train Your Dragon household names. 

She has always been passionate about nurturing and developing new talent, mentoring and giving talks to college students and working with illustrators such as David Barrow and Viola Wang on their debut projects. Jenny is currently working on a range of projects with publishers including Bloomsbury, Wellbeck and Ladybird.