MEETING THE ARTIST: Chris Riddell

Two weeks ago we had the chance to meet the 2015-17 Children’s Laureate, political cartoonist and children’s book illustrator, Chris Riddell at his home in Brighton. For this occasion, we were accompanied by Kalila, pupil at Steyning Primary School and her mum. Kalila, a big fan of Chris Riddell, was delighted to meet her hero on her 10th birthday. Feeling a little nervous before getting to Chris’s house, she then fully enjoyed what became a very special day for her. After having Kalila’s book signed, we all went to the artist’s studio for an exciting filming session during which she asked Chris some questions she had prepared with her classmates such as “Why is drawing a good thing to do?”, “Why are libraries important?” or more random questions like “What pets do you have?”…

Chris Riddell has been invited by HOUSE and project partner Photoworks to lead a free family drawing and photography event called Home Is Where The Heart Is. Chris is keen to get involved in the festival, meeting children and families and promoting the joys of reading, drawing and libraries. The first workshop will take place at the Jubilee Library in Brighton on 14th May, but we would love to have the opportunity to take it to other venues. In order to do this, we are running a crowd funding campaign, which is soon to go live! Stay tuned for this exciting project!

Written by Fanny LeJeune, intern for HOUSE 2016