DERBY BOOK FESTIVAL
I had an opportunity to be a part of the Derby Book Festival 2020 when creating illustrations for the Shared Writing Programme.
This programme aims to engage young people with books through writing, illustration, stories and poems with an emphasis on active participation in workshops, competitions, and semi-professional assignments.
I had a chance to work with the Shared Writing Programme Co-ordinator as well as the Burn the Book design team to create a set of illustrations accompanying 33 poems written by pupils from Bemrose, Murray Park and St Benedict’s secondary schools in Derby. Young people shared their ideas about their place in the World and my aim was to capture their words by engaging illustrations.
“Natalie did a stunning job creating the illustrations for the poems written as part of our 2020 Schools Programme. The children were thrilled.
She was very quick, and efficient, as we only had a limited time to turn the 33 illustrations around and get them ready to go to print. She also worked well with our book designer.
Given that this was her first big commission after graduating we were very impressed.”
Helen B.
Shared Writing Programme Co-ordinator