Q&A with illustrator Miho Satake

The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate is an enduring story by Joy Cowley that was first published as a school reader in 1984. Gecko Press published a picture book edition illustrated by Sarah Davis in 2010. In 2024, Japanese publisher Tokuma Shoten commissioned Miho Satake to create illustrations to go alongside their Japanese… Read more »

A story that travels across oceans and generations

By Rachel Lawson The Fierce Little Woman and the Wicked Pirate has the kind of publishing history you find with Joy Cowley’s most enduring stories. The tale of the fierce little woman who walked up and down the jetty playing her bagpipes to the seagulls was originally published in 1984 as a school reader. Gecko… Read more »

In the studio with David Barrow

Have You Seen Dinosaur and Have You Seen Elephant sitting on a table.

David Barrow is author and illustrator of Have You Seen Elephant? and Have You Seen Dinosaur?  Come in to his studio… My studio is at the bottom of my garden. It’s built from an old outbuilding previously used by Kettering shoemakers to make shoes from home. It’s warm, has internet, and is my happy place…. Read more »

A Lot of Silly: Illustrated Q&A with David Barrow

David Barrow has an MA from the Cambridge School of Art, where he now teaches. His first book, Have You Seen Elephant?, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize, longlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize, and received a Dutch Silver Pencil award. It has also been translated into 11 languages. Barrow won the Sebastian Walker Award and has since written and illustrated many picture books and illustrated a children’s novel.

My Baby Sister Is a Diplodocus: Q&A with Aurore Petit

Aurore Petit

Aurore Petit was born in 1981, one of a generation of French illustrators to emerge from the influential School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg. She lives in Nantes, where she publishes children’s books, illustrates for children and adults and works on theatre sets. Her books with Gecko Press are A Mother Is a House and… Read more »

Sounds Good!: Q&A with Ole Könnecke & Hans Könnecke

Ole Könnecke was born in 1961 and spent his childhood in Sweden. He now lives in Germany and has produced over 30 books, several of which have won international awards. Hans Könnecke is an award-winning composer, instrumentalist and music producer for film,and theatre, who studied composition at the Academy for Music and Theater in Munich…. Read more »

The books that raised the librarians of SLANZA

chlidren reading

For our new series, The Books that Raised Me, we talked to the School Library Association of New Zealand to discover the books that raised the librarians of SLANZA.