What I love most about children's publishing is that as an industry we are driving culture. The way a children's book looks and the message it sends captures a moment in time. I started with Penguin Workshop in 2014 as a designer, promoted to Art Director in 2018, and VP and Executive Art Director in 2025. I've seen a lot of growth and change in our imprint. The only thing that hasn't changed in that time is the drive to make the best possible books that we can. Penguin Workshop is always asking what's next, what's more inclusive, what hasn't been done yet.

From a young age I can remember being fascinated with design. I grew up in NYC, and I remember being in the car staring out the window noticing the lettering of the store signs. In elementary school I designed layouts on my bedroom walls with photos I clipped from magazines and ads from the 1960s that I bought from vintage shops. Many hours spent drawing led my mom to point me in the direction of graphic design and then on to art school. One of my first jobs was designing home video packaging for an art house film distributor. Later this led to another job doing the same thing but this time it included children's content. I fell in love with children's art house animation. As I looked to the future, my next natural career progression was children's publishing. I may have taken the long way here, but I feel like I found a home at Penguin Workshop.

Tinker is exciting to me because it evolved from a genuine joy of picking our favorite creators and manuscripts to publish. Steph Stilwell's book is a prime example of what we want these books to be. Her art is adorable, well considered, and tons of fun to read. What excites me most about this imprint is that because we are always going to be looking for what's next, we're not locked into a super specific style except that it should be fun, bright, colorful, and engaging.

When I'm browsing portfolios, what stops me in my tracks is consistency, volume, and versatility — an artist who can do characters as well as scenery. When I see a portfolio with a ton of consistently stunning art, it gives me confidence that they will take the manuscript and run with it and deliver a beautiful book.

If an artist is confident that they can work in multiple styles, I would love to see that. Sectioning their website so it's clear that each style is equally well executed is key. You don't want it to look like one of your styles is a hobby. Aside from that, websites do not have to be fancy. In fact, the simpler the better. I would also like to see a full Instagram page. I love finding work that isn't on their website to add to the pitch deck. I also like to hear about an artist's personal story in their bio. It really helps to connect artists to the right manuscript.

Demelsa Haughton is a rare and incredible talent. Tori Amos is a magical writer and delivered equally descriptive art notes. In Demelsa's hands, the story was taken to another realm. She makes every inch of the page feel like you have been transported. Every inch of the characters, from fingernails to shoes, and the most minor details in the settings, such as the shape of the window frames, are considered. These all work together to pull you into a place where you truly believe that a pink piano can fly.

The Who HQ series is near and dear to my heart. It is the first book series I worked on when I started as a book designer. Because this is a long-running series, it's easy to give a brief with examples of past books to point to and say, "Match that!" The art direction we give cover illustrators is first and foremost that the bobblehead is the star of the show, then working in the details and scenery around it. For the interior, which is 1-color line art, we typically use a classic American illustration style, but over the years I have started to mix it up and look at more loose or cartoony-leaning styles. As long as the artist is good at likenesses and imagined historic or non-fiction scenes, I'm willing to consider them.

The Little Engine That Could 90th Anniversary Edition does carry an enormous legacy, and we really wanted to get it right. When we were brainstorming big names to do this version, Dan Santat's name came up and I was like, "Yes! That's the artist! He's going to nail it!" He was given artistic license, but he had to stay true to the basic character descriptions. The only tricky part was the expression on Little Engine. She has to look confident and resolute but adorable. There was a lot of back and forth on the subtle tilt of the eyebrows, but we got there. I am so proud of how this book turned out and how well it continues to sell.

I think there seems to be a little more interest in art that looks like it's done by hand, and this includes digital artwork. I think people want to see the brush strokes whether they are by a physical or a digital brush; the little imperfections show that it was human-made. I'm seeing a lot of creators posting their process as proof their art was made by them. That said, I also work with a lot of licensed brands that must look polished and modern, so there is still plenty of room for all styles of art.

I'd love to see more realism for picture books that look modern but not stylized. It seems like there aren't a lot of new artists who are interested in that style and how it would translate into something fresh and not what we've seen before.

From Workshop, I'm really excited about Jessica Hische's third picture book in the Tomorrow I'll Be series, called Tomorrow I'll Be Happy. Her inventive hand lettering once again takes center stage, and I think it's her best one yet!

The one piece of advice that I would give an illustrator serious about building a sustainable career in children's books is to stay ready, so you don't have to get ready. Keep drawing, keep getting better, and keep adapting. Right now, adapting means making sure your website and Instagram are updated, and your contact information is easy to find. In the future, that could mean something entirely different. It's important to stay on top of where and how Art Directors are finding artists.

From Rise, Joshua David Stein and Christopher Silas Neal have teamed up for a brilliant picture book called The Middle. The storytelling in both the words and the pictures and the questions it asks are equal parts simple, complex, and joyful. 

For Tinker, everyone needs to pick up a copy of The Big Book of Fun Fanciful First Words by Suzy Ultman. It is jam-packed with Suzy's whimsical objects, letters with personality, and tons of color. She is working in a new colored-pencil style for this book that I just love!

I loved drawing, painting, collage, photography, and always admired art as a kid. But more than anything I came to realize I enjoyed composing things, whether that was through the lens of a camera or arranging the furniture in my bedroom. The principles of composition are shared between all types of art. The enjoyment I got by making decisions about what would go where eventually led me into design. 
 

When I started going to school for design, I hadn't settled on what area to focus on. At the same time I entered design school, I became a part-time bookseller in a children's department so I was staring at books all day and it reminded me how much books meant to me a kid. When I encountered Penguin during an intern fair at my college, I made a connection. I was able to get hired as a part-design assistant instead of an intern and I've been part of the same team ever since!
 

The biggest change is that I am frequently collaborating with a junior design member of my team. In that position, I'm trying to help another designer realize their own vision as opposed to my own. 

Emails, meetings, meetings, lunch break, meetings, meetings, emails, design. I'm only exaggerating a little! But those meetings are important, it takes a lot of discussion to unify the direction of a book. 

In a picture book, you zone in on every detail on every page. There are so few pages that every moment seems big. In a graphic novel, you have to take a step back and look at the long view. Asking questions like: Is this clear? How does this flow? There is a lot more letting go and having the artist feel it out and only stepping in occasionally.  
 

What actually stands out to me when you list these artists like this is how different each one of them works. This is something I love about the picture book process, every book is unique in how it comes together. That customized approach keeps me feeling creative and inspired because I can't just sit back and do things the same way I've done before. 

Typically I look for consistency in line work/color/etc. Having a few different styles is OK, but for newer illustrators it can make me pause because honing a style takes time. I also always advise illustrators to have some pieces that feature the same character because most picture books feature sequential storytelling with recurring cast.
 

Editors are our collaborators, they bring the project to us and then trust in us to help them shape and elevate it. For our team, it is an incredibly collaborative process with a lot of discussion (all those meetings I mentioned above!) and once sketches starts coming in the art director and designer take the lead in communicating with the illustrator. 
 

I'm lucky enough to be working at Viking Books for Young Readers which is the home to beloved books like Madeline and Corduroy which I too loved and I get to be part of a direct legacy of those books. 
 

I've loved comics for as long as I remember, they have always been part of my reading. So I find it exciting to be part of that unique medium and also help introduce it to kids and colleagues. 

Denise Cronin (art director at Viking Books for Young Readers at the time) hired me as a design assistant and I truly grew up while working for her. She was a patient and thoughtful art director who wanted me to feel ownership and pride in a book design. I worked with her for more than 15 years until she retired. 
 

Be open to feedback. The book publishing process is a collaborative one between an editor, designer/art director, and the artist. My feedback is about helping an illustrator communicate their ideas in the strongest way possible. 
 

I'll mention two. The first is a picture book by Lenny Wen called Sister Scribbles. It will be coming out on August 25 and features a rivalry between two sisters who are artists. The way Lenny plays with the depiction of the girls' drawings and of self-doubt that artists feel is spectacular.

And I must mention an upcoming graphic novel The Girl Who Loved Monsters which is hitting shelves on July 28. This is exactly what I enjoy in comics, it is a little bit scary, a little bit funny, and features a great cast, witty dialogue, and dynamic art. 

AW: The biggest inspirations are our two children, aged six and three. We spend a lot of time reading to them and were motivated to publish books that they would want to read again and again. We’re big fans of Japanese children’s publishing. It has a real creative freedom that we love.

SV: Huge numbers of people are reading Japanese fiction in translation and Manga is a massive global industry now. We hope that the children’s market will similarly look towards Japan for its beautiful picture books.

AW: It’s been quite natural really. Sam was a brand and marketing person in publishing for many years and has a really good sense of publishing as a business. I am an illustrator and a great lover of illustration and so was always going to take the creative lead! There’s crossover of course – we’ve both taken on the role of editor for different titles. 

SV: First and foremost, we make books that we think children will love. We’re not too concerned about the ‘right’ way of doing things, either! 

AW: I think a lot of it is down to curating the list and publishing illustrators we feel inspired by. 

SV: You just know! As a husband-and-wife team, we have a really clear sense of each other’s taste.

AW: If we both love something, it’s right for Do Re Mi!

SV: We have a brilliant editorial director, Fiona Scoble, who brings a huge amount of picture book and fiction experience. She has a deep understanding of storytelling and can tell just what a book needs to make it sing. Polya Plavinskaia is our head of design. She was previously art director of Samokat in Moscow and has wonderful taste in illustrators and a real boldness to her approach. We also work with some brilliant and very experienced freelancers and partners for things like production, foreign rights and sales.

SV: I could describe one, but it might not bear any resemblance to any of the others. Each project is totally unique! Some start with an illustrator we love, and we discuss ideas with them. Sometimes we develop an idea in-house and find the right team for the job. Sometimes we start with the text. Whatever the approach, there’s lots of creative collaboration involved.

SV: The greatest challenge I think has been around building our network of partners when we don’t yet have any books to show. Distribution, warehousing, sales teams in different territories, foreign rights sales – these all need establishing if a business is to sustain itself properly. It’s been really rewarding to start getting positive feedback from bookshops and on social media.

AW: We don’t see these two things as being in conflict. Making interesting books that children want to read is a very commercial idea!

AW: The most important things to us when choosing illustrators is a unique creative voice and child-friendliness. When book shopping for my own children, I became bored with the same illustration styles being represented again and again. So we like to make more daring choices when choosing illustrators. But we don’t want to be so artsy as to alienate the child reader. It’s equally important to us to appeal to children and to for the illustrations to be easily readable. Luckily, there are so many wonderful and exciting illustration out there that bridge that gap!

AW: I’m really excited about How to Be a Cat, written by Sam and illustrated by Yoshiko Hada. It’s a board book about a boy mimicking a cat. We’re really inspired by play in general and often watch our kids for ideas. Yoshiko Hada is a Japanese artist with a lovely expressive style who perfectly captured the spirit of the story.   

AW: As a small independent publisher, we’re happy that we can take more risks with new illustrators and also have the capacity to work with them closely on each project.

SV: There’s lots of variation in our days at the moment. Splitting our time between creating books and running the business is sometimes challenging but fun, in its way!

AW: Each stage of the publishing process is very creative, from considering the overall shape of our list, through editing and making production decisions.

SV: Our launch list is largely made up of board books and picture books, but we’re really thrilled to have signed up a couple of books for slightly older readers for later in the year. More anon!

AW: When developing your portfolio, lean into what makes your work unique! 

I started my career in the television industry, designing artwork for set graphics and styling. However, my passion soon drew me to publishing, where I saw a unique challenge in visually translating narrative. I began as a designer at a small independent publisher. Then, I moved to an educational publisher before joining Pan Macmillan.

My initial focus at Pan Macmillan was on children's illustrated books. This role significantly developed my skills in art direction and commissioning, particularly for middle-grade titles, and more recently, graphic novels and romantasy. I was attracted to Pan Macmillan by the impressive heritage of its children's list and its forward-thinking approach to contemporary publishing. As Art Director, I now oversee the entire breadth of the list, ranging from debut fiction to complex non-fiction and poetry.

The fundamental goal of book cover design is always to create a connection, but the execution varies significantly. Fiction, especially Middle-Grade and YA must immediately signal the genre and create emotional resonance while staying authentic to the author's voice, aiming to entice the reader and hint at the story's core without giving everything away. In contrast, poetry is typically more conceptual and subtle. Design elements are focused on reflecting mood and rhythm, and the imagery of the cover is often less literal. Finally, non-fiction, particularly illustrated, requires the most informational and structural design thinking; here, the cover and interior design must prioritise clarity, hierarchy, and a strong sense of visual storytelling to make complex, factual content digestible, engaging, and highly navigable.

Our visual identity is defined by a blend of contemporary charm and enduring quality. I’d like to think we are characterised by our dedication to commissioning illustrators with distinctive, yet immediately recognisable styles. We deliberately try to avoid fleeting, trend-driven aesthetics, instead championing talent we believe will have lasting appeal. Rather than adhering to a single house style, we serve as a platform for a variety of artistic voices. What unites them is a shared commitment to originality and craft, which ensures every book we produce is both unique and collectible.

Beyond obvious technical skill, I look for three main qualities: a unique personal voice which isn’t derivative of current trends. The ability to interpret the narrative and brief intelligently rather than literally. And the capacity to collaborate, take direction, and meet tight deadlines while maintaining the integrity of their work.

The first thing is probably curation. I personally prefer a tightly edited portfolio that showcases 10-15 of what they consider their best and most versatile pieces, rather than 50 average ones. Clarity is key: their style should be instantly apparent. Secondly, I look for varied applications of their work that shows range within their signature style. Finally, I appreciate a profile that indicates they have a good understanding of the commercial needs of publishing, perhaps by including examples suitable for different age groups or genres.

One of the most rewarding projects was A Nursery Rhyme for Every Night of the Year by Allie Esiri. Although I have had a successful, established illustrator collaboration for over a decade, I decided to explore a new partnership for this particular title, given its nursery rhyme focus.

It’s a constant negotiation. We start with the commercial imperative: Who is the target audience? What are the market signals (colour, typography styles, imagery) for this genre? Once we understand these, we then aim to question and progress them creatively. The cover should function as a strong piece of commercial signposting while also being artistically distinct. For instance, we might use what’s considered a recognisable genre typeface but pair it with an unexpected illustrative colour palette or composition to ensure it stands out amongst the competition.

Visual storytelling is essential for transforming non-fiction from a simple informational resource into a truly immersive experience. For younger audiences, illustrations do more than just complement the text; they often serve as the most accessible carriers of key information.

Illustrations need to simplify complex facts while simultaneously adding personality and humour to keep readers engaged. Our aim is to structure spreads as scenes on a continuous journey, ensuring a logical flow that guides the reader, making the processing of factual content both beautiful and effortless.

What excites me most is the growing global diversity in illustrative talent and styles being commissioned. This is creating a richer, more inventive visual world for all ages. It introduces fresh perspectives and moves beyond the narrow, traditional view of what 'children's illustration' should be.

It’s pretty simple – trust, clear communication and mutual respect. Providing comprehensive briefs that clearly articulate the creative vision, as well as the more boring stuff like technical specifications, and the budget / timeline upfront. Providing constructive feedback (and offering solutions where appropriate) over criticism strengthens the relationship with the illustrator as a co-creator and fosters mutual respect.

A typical day is a mix of strategic meetings, managerial duties and practical tasks. I might spend the morning reviewing a project's cover concepts or initial sketches, followed by a priorities planning meeting to discuss the next 12 months of our lists and finally a catch-up with a colleague in the art department.

Collaboration with editorial is constant and begins at acquisition. Design can contribute to market feedback on proposed manuscripts or suggest potential illustrators before a contract is signed. Throughout a project's life cycle, we maintain a strong partnership, collaborating in weekly cover meetings to ensure the visual interpretation aligns perfectly with the text and the overall project strategy, from initial concept right through to print.

I’ve always been quite influenced by mid-century European design, for example, someone like Bruno Munari and his bold use of colour. In terms of Children’s illustration, it may sound like a cliché but Quentin Blake and the warmth and energy of his work continues to be an inspiration. I also love the work of Isabelle Arsenault, and her beautiful use of texture and narrative depth.

I admire the commitment all of these artists show to simplicity, clear communication, and the idea that the best design should be deeply considered but look effortless.

I'm thrilled that one of our designers has commissioned Ellen Porteus to work on a new upper middle grade cosy crime series. Ellen is an established artist known for her vibrant, maximalist style, but she’s a relatively new voice to children's publishing, and I am excited to see how her collaboration with the designer will elevate this fantastic project.

I think illustration is probably set to become more central to storytelling, moving away from a peripheral role. In fiction, I imagine a stronger focus on integrated design elements that build atmosphere and drive narrative pace, effectively bridging the gap between traditional middle-grade books and graphic novels. In terms of poetry, I wonder if we’ll see increasingly sophisticated design approaches that can engage diverse, multi-generational audiences. Ultimately, illustration will bear more of the emotional and narrative weight as visual literacy continues to develop. Something I am more aware of at the moment is the impact of evolving AI technology. I believe it’s important now more than ever for the creative community to come together and support each other.

Research the Publishers list and identify how you might creatively contribute. Be professional and persistent. Have a clear, easy-to-navigate platform for showcasing your work, respond promptly, meet deadlines, and present your work clearly. But above all be proud of your distinctive style and own what is uniquely yours. If you celebrate this, chances are others will champion it too.

For the first time, I commissioned Emily Faccini, a fantastic illustrator perhaps best known for her amazing map-making. Working with Emily was, in all my years, one of my favourite and most joyous projects. She was incredibly generous, always keen to understand and expand on the brief. We would often FaceTime, and I loved being transported into her magical world as she created. I highly valued our discussions, where we both contributed, challenged, and encouraged each other to reconsider every detail. It was an incredible treat.