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We are delighted to work with David, as one of the most celebrated illustrators in children’s literature.
David Roberts was born in Liverpool. He had many jobs including shelf stacker, egg fryer, hair washer, film extra, coffee-maker and milliner before finally realising his dream of becoming a children’s book illustrator when his first book ‘Frankie Stein’s Robot’ written by Roy Apps was published in 1998. This book was shortlisted for the ‘Mother Goose Award’ for emerging illustrators.
Since then, he has worked with many fantastic authors including Julia Donaldson, Julian Clary, Philip Ardagh, Michelle Robinson, Sally Gardner, and Andrea Beaty. His ‘Dirty Bertie’ character has starred in 2 picture books and more than 30 junior fiction books, the latter written by Alan MacDonald, and he has illustrated a version of the classic Kenneth Grahame book ‘The Wind in the Willows’.
David illustrates the NYT #1 multi-million bestselling ‘Questioneers’ series, written by Andrea Beaty, which includes ‘Iggy Peck, Architect’, ‘Rosie Revere, Engineer’, ‘Ada Twist, Scientist’, ‘Sofia Valdez, Future Prez’, and ‘Aaron Slater, Illustrator’. ‘Ada Twist, Scientist’ has become an Emmy award winning Netflix animation series, and the character featured as a balloon in the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.
David is currently illustrating a children’s fiction title written by actor and TV presenter, Richard Ayoade.
With a life-long interest in non-fiction books, David wrote and illustrated ‘Suffragette: the Battle for Equality’ about the women’s suffrage movement of the early 20th century and is and is currently working on a book about the history of LGBTQ+ activism.
David has won many awards, including the Society of Authors’ Queen’s Knickers Prize 2022, and has been shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration on 4 occasions. The 2021 book ‘Bathe the Cat’ written by Alice B. McGinty has recently won multiple awards across America including the Irma S. and James H. Black gold medal in 2023.
In 2022, David won an Emmy for his work as an executive producer on the Netflix show ‘Ada Twist Scientist’.
