British SCBWI's 2nd Conference for Writers and Illustrators
November 21 to 22, 2009 • West Downs Campus, University of Winchester SO22 4NR
gillian mcclure
All through her childhood, Gillian McClure illustrated her own stories. However, she never went to Art School. Instead, she read English, History of Art and French at Bristol University, and then went on to take a Diploma in Primary Education at Moray House.
Her first book, The Emperor’s Singing Bird, was published when she was 24, after a Schools Inspector spotted it in her classroom. After that she stopped teaching and went on to write and illustrate many more children’s books. Her style of writing and illustrating has a traditional resonance. In Tom Finger, she draws on fairy-tale imagery.
‘Tom Finger by Gillian McClure has beautiful and evocative watercolour pictures. The story is excellent for reading aloud, with a rhythmic lilt and plenty of repetition.’
The Spectator
And Quentin Blake wrote about Selkie:
‘Full of the sense of another time and another place; an experience genuinely created and preserved’.
Books for Keeps
After a visit to South Korea, where she was inspired by the landscape and tradition of folk tales, Gillian wrote and illustrated The Land of the Dragon King and Other Korean Stories. She is currently working on a picture book in graphic novel form for very young children
Gillian has served on the Society of Authors CWIG Committee, on the Public Lending Right Advisory Committee, has been an Escalator judge and mentor for New Writing Partnership and has held a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellowship. She has had books short-listed for The Smarties Award, one book Highly Commended in the Kate Greenaway Award and Selkie won the US Parent’s Guide to Children’s Media Award. Her books have been used on the National Curriculum and she likes to stay in touch with her readers, doing writing residencies in schools as well as illustration workshops and talks.
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