Writing For Children | with Alexis Deacon
Tuesday 3/6/25 to Tuesday 22/7/25
Eight weekly sessions
6.30-8 pm
Tuesday 3/6/25 to Tuesday 22/7/25
Eight weekly sessions
6.30-8 pm
Tuesday 3/6/25 to Tuesday 22/7/25
Eight weekly sessions
6.30-8 pm
Course description
Children's picture books are a rich and diverse form that reward boldness, honesty and simplicity. On this eight-week course, led by acclaimed author and illustrator Alexis Deacon – twice winner of The New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book Award – you will learn to craft your own original stories for children through the use of concepts and language guaranteed to delight and enthral younger readers. You will explore how words and pictures can work together to tell a story and how images communicate information and ideas, while embracing a spirit of playfulness through games and other exercises to creatively inspire. No previous experience in children’s writing is required, and you can come prepared with an existing project, or dream up a new picture book idea during the course. All that’s required is a desire to write for younger readers, and plenty of energy and joy – essential qualities when writing for children!
About the tutor
Over a career spanning a quarter of a century, Alexis Deacon has worked on books for children of all ages across many different formats. He has worked as both writer and illustrator for his graphic novel series, The Curse of the Chosen and on several of his books for younger children, including Slow Loris, Croc and Bird and Beegu, the latter of which is currently on the stage at the Unicorn Theatre in London.
He has worked as an illustrator for authors including Russell Hoban, Marcus and Julian Sedgwick and Markus Zusak and as a writer for his friend and colleague, Viviane Schwarz on Ergo and I Am Henry Finch, among others. From 2020 to 2022 he worked as the lead background designer on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe, and for many years he has taught children's book illustration at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge and at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Alexis has twice been shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal, twice received The New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book Award, and in 2008 was chosen by The Book Trust as one of the ten best illustrators of the preceding decade. He won The Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize in 2014, while Slow Loris was nominated for the Blue Peter Award in 2002, and named one of the hundred best books of all time by Time Magazine in 2015. He lives in Hastings in the UK with his wife and son.
Photo: Jake Green
