I am delighted to be able to offer original artwork by Lucy Cousins from her Maisy series of books as well as her other titles.
Lucy Cousins was born in 1964 and went to school in Kent. After doing a foundation course at Canterbury College, she did a BA Honours in Graphic Design, followed by a postgraduate degree at the Royal College of Art. Students were given a free pass to the zoo and so she spent a great deal of time drawing the animals there. Wendy Boase, former Editorial Director at Walker Books, spotted her ability, took her on and Maisy the mouse was born.
Maisy has become one of the best-loved characters in children’s books, and is recognized the world over. First published 25 years ago, she now has her own television series, become a mascot for many children’s charities, has her own extensive range of merchandise and her own website.
Lucy won the Bologna Ragazzi Non-fiction Prize 1997 for Maisy’s House and has been Highly Commended for the National Art Illustration Award 1997 for Za Za’s Baby Brother, images from which were also used in a publicity campaign by Tommy’s, the baby’s charity. Jazzy in the Jungle won the Smarties Book Prize in 2002. Hooray for Fish!, published in 2005, is a celebration of life under the sea. Peck Peck Peck, published in 2013 won the inaugural 2014 Booktrust Best Book Awards with Amazon Kindle, 0-5 category.
Lucy has now sold more than 31 million books worldwide, including picture books, sticker books, cloth books, colouring books, board books, pull-the-tab and lift-the-flap books, three-dimensional play sets, a clock book, and so on! She finds that illustration comes more easily to her than writing, which tends to work around the drawings. “I draw by heart,” she says. “I think about what children would like by going back to my own childlike instincts.”
Lucy lives in Hampshire with her husband and has four children.
