Children's Hour

A combination of the frivolous and the serious defines the work of Faversham-based children’s books illustrator Priscilla Lamont.

- Diana Crampton

PRISCILLA LAMONT’S studio at Creek Creative in Faversham has a garden gate instead of a door so that the light can flood in from the top.

With friends and studios on all sides, the children’s books illustrator has been there for about six years, ever since the Art & Design community hub first opened.

Priscilla studied graphic design and illustration at Canterbury College of Art and Design (now the University for the Creative Arts and linked with Medway and Farnham), after having taken a Foundation year at Birmingham College of Art.

“Once I decided to go freelance as an illustrator in the mid 1970s, I did a variety of work for magazines and publishers,” she says. “I also did paste-up work, which was good money until computers arrived on the scene and scalpels and cow gum were a thing of the past.”

Her first picture book was The Troublesome Pig, published soon after her son’s first birthday. It was a retelling of an old nursery tale and Priscilla was thrilled to have it shortlisted for the Kurt Maschler award. She has also illustrated stories by Michael Rosen, Adrian Mitchell, Harry Secombe, Hilary MacKay and Julia Jarman: more than 40 books in total.

“Julia and I recently produced a free download of our book Will there be Polar Bears, which has been enjoyed well over 5,000 times on iTunes,” she says.