Axel Scheffler

German-born illustrator Axel Scheffler is the first ever winner of The British Book Awards’ Illustrator of the Year, introduced at the 2018 ceremony to highlight (and illustrate) the contribution made by artists to books and to the book economy.

Scheffler will be a popular winner. He has been illustrating children’s books since 1988, when he illustrated a new edition of Helen Cresswell’s Middle-Grade classic The Piemakers. His first picture book, You’re a Hero, Daley B! by Jon Blake, followed in 1992, the same year that he first collaborated with the writer Julia Donaldson on A Squash and a Squeeze. He has since illustrated more than a hundred books for a range of different publishers including Scholastic, Macmillan and Nosy Crow.

In 2017 Scheffler generated sales of £9.5m through Nielsen BookScan from the 60 different titles that he has in print in the UK. It is, of course, through his ongoing collaboration with Donaldson that he has become one of the UK’s most well-known (and loved) illustrators. From The Gruffalo to Stick Man, Scheffler’s interpretation of Donaldson’s characters are instantly recognisable, turning the stories into modern classics.

The duo’s titles have sold 48 million copies worldwide. The Gruffalo (Macmillan) has been published in 75 languages and all of Scheffler’s picture books are steadily being translated worldwide. Five of these books have been made into films, most recently The Highway Rat.

In September 2017, Scheffler’s latest picture book with Donaldson, The Ugly Five was published alongside the paperback of Zog and the Flying Doctors (both Alison Green Books, an imprint of Scholastic). Both topped the Children’s charts, and spent a combined nine weeks at the top of the Children’s Pre-school chart. The Ugly Five was the number one frontlist picture book of 2017, with sales exceeding 90,000 copies; Zog and the Flying Doctors shifted more than 97,000 copies in paperback in 2017, making them the strongest Scheffler/Donaldson launches for years. In autumn 2017, Discover Children’s Story Centre in Stratford opened an interactive exhibition devoted to Scheffler and Donaldson’s picture books.

The illustrator’s dedication to important causes includes active support of literacy charities (such as National Literacy Trust and Readathon, a partner for Zog and the Flying Doctors launch), environmental and conservation charities (such as Environment Trust and Tusk) and charities offering support for the refugee crisis (The School Bus Project and Three Peas). He has also had a word (or image) to say about Brexit: through political artwork, exhibitions with fellow European illustrators and media interviews, Scheffler seeks to promote the benefits of a compassionate world. He articulates how children’s books are one of the UK’s most successful exports, and how their universality demonstrates the power and importance of sharing stories across continents.