yay! i’m this year’s cheltenham kids lit fest illustrator!

So exciting!!! I got an e-mail from Cheltenham Literature Festival organiser Jane Churchill, who invited me to be the Book It! Illustrator for the festival in October. I can hardly believe it, other people who have done it in the past are some of my most favourite illustrators, including David Roberts, Polly Dunbar and Chris Riddell. And I had an amazing time at last year’s festival.

That means I’ll get to make a picture that will go on the brochure, banners, flyers, etc, and I asked if I could do my Vern and Lettuce characters and they said yes! So I’ve just sketched out a first version to see what they think. You might see a lot of changes, but I thought I’d post them as I go along. (And I’m very glad for any feedback, I want this picture to look the best it can!)

I’m starting out with a little wobbly go-cart type thing, like the Pickle Rye gang are setting off for the festival, but getting a bit lost (as they would). Here are Polly Dunbar’s and Chris Riddell’s from earlier years:

(They’re cheltfestivals on Twitter if you want to follow. The festival runs 8–17 October.)