AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Hopefully you've read about You Can and the young contributors so here's a bit of info about Alex and Steve.
Alex is responsible for the idea behind You Can and spent years collecting messages from children to create the text. She is passionate about ensuring children's voices are genuinely listened to. She has worked on lots of projects with children and young disabled people, as well as having worked for over 20 years in the children’s book industry. She now devotes most of her time to writing. She’s co-author of the picture book Max the Champion (with the wonderful Sean Stockdale and Ros Asquith), has consulted on many other inclusive and accessible books. She’s also a consultant/reviewer for BookTrust. She was previously helped to found Outside In World (celebrating books from around the world) and Inclusive Minds, where she set up the network of Inclusion Ambassadors as a way to give young people with lived experience a way share their vital knowledge with book creators. Most of all, she loves listening to children's own stories. She lives in Surrey with her family and other animals.
Steve is the amazing artist who brought the book to life. He is already the award-winning writer and illustrator of 20 picture books, 7 of which have been nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and is probably best known for his ongoing Mr Panda series which has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Along with the award-winning modern classic The Queen’s Hat and its sequels, his other picture books include Unplugged, Amazing, Green Lizards Vs Red Rectangles Betty Goes Bananas and Monster in the Hood. Steve also illustrated the all-new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (adapted by Peter Bently), Tim Minchin’s When I Grow Up and a 70th anniversary cover of The Famous Five. He has contributed work towards LGBTQ+ anthology Proud, Drawing Europe Together and Kind. Steve is Swindon Libraries Patron to Children’s Reading Services, an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and a committee member of The Society of Author’s Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group. He lives in South West England with his husband and cat.
