Dapo Adeola

Since winning the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for his début Look Up!, Dapo Adeola has become an empowering presence within the book world, working tirelessly to represent Black communities while demystifying the industry for aspiring illustrators.

Adeola’s work centres on visibility and representation and his collaboration with Malorie Blackman in 2021, We’re Going to Find the Monster, reimagined Marty Monster for a new generation with created Charlie, a Black child with vitiligo, leading the adventure. Hey You!, written and illustrated by Adeola, in collaboration with 18 other Black illustrators, was also named Children’s Illustrated Book of the Year.

He also regularly uses Instagram to champion illustrators and penned an open letter to the BBC demanding equal representation. “Time after time illustrators are uncredited and thereby essentially erased from the story,” he wrote. Adeola continues to push representation on and beyond the page, inspiring a generation of readers as an ambassador at BookTrust and the National Literary Trust. As he states: “Children’s books help to shape the people who will be the readers and thinkers of the future.”

For all he has done, does and will do, we are delighted to have Dapo Adeola as The British Book Awards Illustrator of the Year.