Melanie Williamson
Melanie was born in lovely Norfolk in 1977 and has been a fan of pictures and illustrations from a very early age. She is particularly inspired by quirky characters and bold vivid colour. Whilst at school she favoured sport and art and was a fairly accomplished swimmer until everybody else grew taller and got somehow faster so she chose the arty path! She graduated in illustration from De Montfort University, Lincoln in 2000.
She absolutely loves creating picture books, be it illustrating someone else’s text or, more recently her own. She hopes that her own particular style brings a smile to people’s faces, whatever age they may be. Her family were the inspiration for the characters in That Pesky Dragon, written by Julie Sykes, although they may not be altogether flattered by that! One of her most recent books The Great Nursery Rhyme Disaster written by David Conway has been short-listed for this years ‘Sheffield Children’s Book Prize’ about which she is totally flabbergasted and thrilled and has every finger, toe and eyelash crossed!!
She spent a few happy years up in Manchester after leaving University working part-time as a waitress (talking people’s ears off!) until illustration became a full-time occupation.
She has recently moved back to Lincoln and lives in a beautiful cottage with her gorgeous, crazy cat, Mooki. The walls of her attic studio are covered with inspiring pictures, patterns, scribbles, cards, wrapping paper, sketches and bags, and and there are children’s books, old and new, scattered all over the place. The fridge is adorned with photographs of Thailand, her favourite place, where she looks forward to the odd holiday now and then.