The Artist

Product Information

Vere is the 2020 Illustrator in Residence for Booktrust. While there he will champion drawing in primary education and attempt to start a national conversation about the benefits of drawing for mental health.

Ed has worked extensively in schools across the UK and abroad running reading and drawing workshops... including teachingat International Schools in Kathmandu, Nanjing &SauPaolo. From the award-winning Ed Vere comes a joyful and inspirational celebration of beauty, mistakes and the artist in all of usThere is something very special about that space in between the pictures and the words. A place which asks your imagination to fill the gap. A good picture book should leave room between words and pictures. Pictures don’t simply illustrate the words – they tell their own story, on a multitude of levels. If we make time to examine them.

Ed has performed on stage, live drawing with (amongst others) The Britten Sinfoniaand The Neil Cowley Triofor the 'Mr Big plays Jazz' concerts. Selected venues have been; The Barbican Centre (London), Wigmore Hall (London), The Hexagon (Reading), Saffron Hall (Saffron Waldon), Norwich Cathedral and Cuirt International Literary Festival in Galway, Ireland. By the time a child arrives at primary school they’re able to use this visual vocabulary creatively when they‘read’pictures and when they draw, yet we don’t harness either. Worse still, most children have given up drawing by the age of 9 or 10 (believing there’s a right and wrong way – there isn’t). In doing so, they lose a vital form of self-expression which they don’t have another outlet for. Careless of us in these times where we’re supposedly more aware than ever of emotional wellbeing. Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week(Ireland)-'Perfect for creative minds, Ed Vere’s beautiful children’s book The Artistfollows a young dinosaur on a mission to share her art with others...This book features joyful illustrations and a powerful message about what it means to be an artist.' - Lynn Enright Bedtime for Monsters' was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2011 and the next year Ed had the honour of being one of the four Roald Dahl Funny Prize judges, along with Michael Rosen. As a writer who also draws, I’m interested in how we connect with another person through words and pictures. How we engage, how we animate, how we get an idea to live in another mind. When I read to children, I’m endlessly amazed by the power of a picture book. That a character is grippingly alive for those kids. An inky drawing of an enormous, lonely gorilla playing a piano, transforms in the mind into a living breathing being, deserving of love. It blows my mind. Every time.Mae deinosor ifanc sy'n artist yn gweld y byd fel lle llawn llawenydd a harddwch – rhywbeth y mae rhai deinosoriaid yn rhy brysur i sylwi arno. Mae hi'n tynnu llun ac yn paentio'r llawenydd a'r harddwch hwnnw ac yn creu ei chelf ohono. This witty, resonant picture book is a manual for anyone's life, young or old." Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week

Booklist- 'Realizing that making mistakes is part of the process could be a game-changer for the many kids who can't conquer their discouragement when their art falls short of their expectations.' I struggled enormously with literacy projects at school, English comprehension was an unending nightmare. I just didn’t get it. Drawing was another matter. Some children are academic thinkers – others, just as bright, think in other ways; spatially or visually. We must learn how to engage them, so they don’t come to believe, as I did, that they aren’t worth much. Yn ddiweddarach, mae hi'n penderfynu mynd i fyw yn y ddinas gyda llawer o waliau gwag i'w paentio fel bod mwy o bobl yn gallu gweld ei chelf ac edrych o ddifrif. Ond mae hi'n colli'i hyder pan mae hi'n dechrau gwneud camgymeriadau a lliwio y tu allan i'r llinellau. Mae bron â rhoi'r ffidl yn y to â'i chelf nes iddi sylweddoli mai'r galon yn y celf sy'n wirioneddol bwysig. Publishers Weekly- 'Even if readers don't need encouragement to unleash their own talents, they should be intrigued by this protagonist's arc toward artistic assurance.' This book is perfect to read with children who have started drawing but sometimes feel disheartened when their drawing doesn’t turn out exactly as they see it in their heads, as so often happens. It’s easy to start thinking you’re not good at drawing and a lot of children go through this and tragically stop seeing themselves as artists, losing the confidence to express that they had at first. This is a stunningly beautiful book with a message for young and old - and it makes readers look anew and refreshed at the world. Ed Vere is one of the most talented children’s books creators of our time and takes the care to make every word and every mark mean something, in or out of the lines.Puffin started out as a non-fiction publisher, with its first title appearing in 1940. As the most iconic and well-known children’s book brand in the UK today, we are always on the lookout for innovative ways to tell the world’s favourite stories and for brilliant new debut talent and brands that connect with today’s young readers, from newborn up to twelve years old. As I mentioned at the beginning,it’s about howwe connect with another person. By using drawing and pictures, we engage, we animate - we get an idea to live in another mind. Vere has worked with the Britten Sinfonia and the Neil Cowley Trio to stage live concerts for schools and family audiences. With the Britten Sinfonia, adaptations of Mr Big and Max the Brave have been staged in concerts which bring together live drawing and classical music, the most recent at The Barbican Centre. The concerts were devised with and presented by Hannah Conway. We understand complex expressions and emotions through drawings from a very early age, in ways we can’t yet do with the written word or spoken language. Even if readers don't need encouragement to unleash their own talents, they should be intrigued by this protagonist's arc toward artistic assurance Publishers Weekly

Ed Vere is an award winning and New York Times bestselling writer & illustrator of picture books. He is a patron at CLPE and isthe artist in residence at the Born Free Foundation. How to Be a Lion, by Ed Vere (Penguin Random House, June 2018) Nominated for the 2019 Kate Greenaway Medal and the 2019 Carnegie Medal

Someone who sees beauty... Someone with a mind full of colours, feelings, and ideas... Someone who plays and dreams and makes... For that to happen the Power of Pictures author/illustrators must re-instill a sense of drawing confidence in the teachers we’re teaching. Many haven’t drawn since they were at primary school. We demonstrate a few simple confidence-building drawing exercises which show how a character can be easily created. From there a drawn character can interact with another. An idea for a story often sparks soon after.