Q3. For you, what makes a successful book or illustration?

There is an ‘X’ factor that some author/illustrators just have - it’s that little bit of magic that shouts to a child “Read Me!”. I think the most successful children’s books are created by people who never stop inhabiting the mind of a child, and who are passionate about what they do. My hero, the inimitable Shirley Hughes once described the delight of drawing as ‘the nearest thing I know to flying into the sun’. A successful book is one that stays in the memories of a child for a lifetime.

Isn’t DNA a wonderful thing? For a long time my brother and I had whimsically wondered whether we were related to two artists – the Victorian genre painter, Thomas Benjamin Kennington and his son, the well-known war artist Eric Kennington.

Read about my latest picture book ‘Anna’s Garden’ in Pukaar News!

I am often asked to licence book covers by educational publishers because they add another dimension to selected extracts and help to draw the student in. Their copyright can be complicated, so I thought I’d write a bit about them.

This beauty is one of my all-time favourites. Arthur Rackham died in 1939, so the illustration is now in the public domain (copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years), but his work is only part of the picture. Assuming the designer of the cover was either employed or commissioned by the publisher, the copyright for the design has also expired as this edition was published in 1906 (if the work was created by an employee or was commissioned, the rule is 95 years from publication).

I have just found out the portrait I painted of my daughter Beth has been shortlisted for The Viking Cruises British Art Prize 2021. She would have been thrilled; she really did light up our world and I hope it shows in the picture. You can vote here

I often get asked what my job as a permissions editor involves, and the question has prompted me to write this short article. Maybe you are an author or an editor and need some expert help, or maybe you are someone just starting out in publishing and feel inspired to get involved.