Blake designs cover for ShelterBox all-star climate change story

Sir Quentin Blake has designed the cover for Tamesis Street, a forthcoming climate change story by global disaster relief organisation ShelterBox featuring an all-star list of contributors.

The book is a collaborative writing project, in development for over a year and featuring well-known authors, celebrities, journalists and people living and working in the areas that ShelterBox supports.

Those taking part include Cressida Cowell, Bill Bryson, Kit De Waal, Joanne Harris, Monique Roffey, Michael Donkor, Balli Kaur Jaswal, Kerry Hudson, John Lanchester and Chris Packham.

Blake's cover depicts the central scenes of Tamesis Street, which follows a set of core characters and their journey in response to an extreme weather event in London in 2050, emphasising the global impact of climate change. London suffers devastating flooding, and Blake's illustration shows a crowd of desperate individuals as they struggle to locate loved ones and reach safe ground as the sun begins to set and darkness looms.

The book also features a foreword by ShelterBox patron the Duchess of Cornwall, while Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate provides the afterword.

Tamesis Street will be launched on 7th October 2021 and made available to existing subscribers of ShelterBox’s book club, as well as new subscribers who activate their membership between 7th October 2021 and 26th January 2022.