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Emma Chichester Clark was born in London in 1955 but lived in Ireland until 1975. She studied at the Chelsea School of Art from 1975–8 followed by a course at the Royal College of Art from 1980–83 where she was taught by Quentin Blake.

She has worked as a freelance illustrator for various magazines including New Scientist, Cosmopolitan and The Sunday Times, and has also illustrated numerous book jackets. Her work was exhibited at the Thumb Gallery in 1984 and 1987.

Emma won the Mother Goose Award in 1988 as the most exciting newcomer to children's book illustration.

On her work

'I started drawing just about as soon as I could hold a pencil. But I could never find enough paper and my mother wouldn't let me use her Basildon Bond. So secretly I used to tear the blank pages out of her grown-up books and draw on them and make my own little books.' 

'I think books for children should be wild and adventurous. They should offer you something you can escape into, something you don't get later on – it might be the only chance. It's the only time that children can develop their imagination, and it's so porous it's vital to fill it with extraordinary things, not mundane, boring things.'

'I still draw with a pencil, just an ordinary pencil. I can't cope with pen and ink. And for colour, I'm completely addicted to Dr Martin's Radiant Concentrated Colour. It's American, comes in little bottles, and it's much easier to use than ordinary watercolour. You can put layers and layers of colour, one on top of another.'

Inspiration

Madeleine books by Ludwig Bemelmans.
Babar books by Laurent De Brunhoff.
Quentin Blake and Charles Addams.

See details of books in print from enCompassCulture.com

External links

Andersen Press biography of Emma Chichester Clark