I’m extremely happy to say that Alphonse, there’s Mud on the Ceiling! has been shortlisted for Oscar’s Book Prize! The prize celebrates the best pre-school book of the year and is awarded in memory of Oscar Ashton; the winner will be announced on Monday 25th of May. There are five other brilliant books on the shortlist and you can read more about them, Oscar’s Book Prize and Oscar at www.oscarsbookprize.co.uk/.
I was amazed, and very happy, to hear that I DO NOT LIKE BOOKS ANYMORE! is shortlisted for the Association of Illustrators’ World Illustration Awards. Just being included in the exhibition at Somerset House is a bit too exciting.
It’s especially exciting as the book isn’t even out yet: Walker will publish I DO NOT LIKE BOOKS ANYMORE! on May 3rd and there’ll be a book launch at Gosh! on the 10th. This is Natalie and Alphonse’s second adventure, following ALPHONSE, THAT IS NOT OK TO DO! and I’ve just finished the artwork for their third escapade – so I’ve got to know these monsters very well.
I DO NOT LIKE BOOKS ANYMORE! is about what happens when Natalie struggles with learning to read – and how she and Alphonse find their own solution (involving an ambitious elephant and a caterpillar driving a truck). I’ll be sharing more about the book, especially on Instagram, in the run-up to publication.
This week the Biennial of Illustrations (BIB) opens in Bratislava. Amazingly, IBBY UK and ICPBS (International Centre for the Picture Book in Society) have chosen to include The Girl with the Parrot on her Head in the UK submission. 
Each country puts forward up to 15 illustrators and work from all the nominated books will be exhibited from 9th September to October 29th at the Slovak National Museum. Some people will win golden apples and other prizes, but those sound extremely bad for your teeth – probably best just to be in the exhibition?
ICPBS and IBBY have also organised two exhibitions at BIB which aim to raise awareness of the experiences of child migrants. The Migrations exhibition is made up of over 300 postcards featuring images of birds and messages from illustrators from all over the world (including mine, below).
If, like me, you can’t make it to Bratislava you can explore the postcards and messages in this interactive map (mine’s pinned to Birmingham so I think it must be done by postmark). The exhibition is expected to tour after BIB. Worcester University Illustration tutors have also created (larger) new work on the theme of Migrations.
I was extremely excited to be shortlisted for the first ever Klaus Flugge Prize (for debut picturebook illustrators) for The Girl with the Parrot on her Head. The party had gold balloons AND tiny macaroons! Nicholas John Frith won for his very beautiful Hector and Hummingbird: interviews with him and all the shortlisted illustrators are here.
Thank you very very much to the judges! And to Andersen for starting the prize.
I’m very happy to say The Girl with the Parrot on her Head has been shortlisted for the Sheffield Children’s Book Award! It’s especially exciting as the prize is judged by children, voting through schools and libraries. Here’s Sheffield Libraries’ tweet:
Now for the Sheffield Children’s Book Award Picture Book shortlist – Fabulously quirky mixture of funny & heartfelt! pic.twitter.com/VTfyxeZMux
— Sheffield Libraries (@SheffLibraries) March 31, 2016
The winners will be announced in November.
