Newsletter November 2025

Off piste this time

This has been a fantastic year for us. As is often the case though, we can't tell you about some of the important things we've done as many are locked up behind NDA's.

However, I'm lucky enough to bask in the glow of some very accomplished artists and I feel enormously grateful for that. The inspiration, the patience, the sheer hard graft and the incredible knowledge that these people have surprises me every day as I watch the gems pour in. So let me tell you about some of their achievements.

Alexis Deacon is one of them. His ideas for children's books are almost too good. (Remember Beegu?) Publishers are worried about offending children (or their parents) so they're more cautious than ever. Thank goodness then for the small independent publisher who's picked up Alexis's book about the death of a king, King School.

The range of Alexis's work is extraordinary. Over to you to guess who this character might be for a rather different project - but still on the subject of inheritance.

People from the world over track Ian Miller down. His extraordinarily-detailed drawings are used for the design of miniatures which go on to be reproduced in their hundreds. Others use his work for album covers or backgrounds for their sets. He produces countless gaming cards for Magic the Gathering and Sorcery: Contested Realm and that never seems to end.

We have a comprehensive range of prints signed and numbered by Ian. This one was for The Four Riders of the Apocalypse.

I couldn't be more thrilled for Olivia Lomenech Gill. She won the Carnegie Award for the best illustrated children's book of the year with Clever Crow.

She is a remarkable woman who can do this at the same time as farming, raising three boys, rebuilding a French farmhouse, exhibiting her work locally, talking to the authorities in French now that she lives there, and heaving around hefty printmaking kit.

And she can do this too. An edition of nine bronzes, Standing To, was first inspired by her exhibition at Marlborough College commemorating the Great War.

Then just look at the madness of this detail from Neil Packer's next book which is about journeys and connections. These are a few of the objects he's used to explain speed and distance. Under each image, you can see how long it would take each one to move ten miles. Essential knowledge? Not really, but it's a good way to engage children (and adults) in a very entertaining way. The book will be published in 2026.

It was a bit easier for Neil to produce a wine label for a rather fancy Barolo though. More on Neil here.

It's not often that I'm tempted to start working for another artist but I'm struck by Gwen Burns' approach to illustrating the book of Old Songs which has been chosen by Waterstones as one of the best history books of the year. Gwen is passionate about social history, and the way she's illustrated these ballads is both modern and also sympathetic to the era. You can see more here.

And finally

Jim Kay has emerged from a time of reflection and recovery and has picked up his paintbrushes.

Welcome back, Jim.

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Newsletter November 2025

Off piste this time

And finally