Kate Pankhurst is a British writer and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

, known for a series of children's

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

s. She won second place in the 2002 Macmillan Prize for Picture Book Illustration.

Early life

Kate Pankhurst was raised in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England. She later credited an independent bookshop that she passed on the way to school as introducing her to books. Pankhurst was inspired by an issue of British comic ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and ...

'' to create her own comic, and after selling copies to her school friends, decided that she wanted to work in

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vi ...

when she grew older. Initially she sought to become a shoe designer, but while undertaking

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

and

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degrees at the

University of Central Lancashire The University of Lancashire (previously abbreviated UCLan) is a public university based in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. It has its roots in ''The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge'', founded in 1828. Previously k ...

in illustration, she realised that she could work as a children's book illustrator.

Career

After winning second place in the 2002 Macmillan Prize for Picture Book Illustration, she began working on the Mariella Mystery Investigates series. This was the published work which Pankhurst both wrote and illustrated. The series was acquired by Plum Pudding Illustration. She subsequently published through

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

. Her first non-fiction work ''Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World'' led Pankhurst to discover that she was distantly related to

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst (; Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was a British political activist who organised the British suffragette movement and helped women to win in 1918 the women's suffrage, right to vote in United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, whom she featured in the book. Although she thought for a period that there was no connection, another family member confirmed the link through her paternal line. Pankhurst said that she had enjoyed promoting lesser known stories of women in the book, such as

Gertrude Ederle Gertrude Caroline Ederle (; October 23, 1905 – November 30, 2003) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. ...

and her crossing of the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. As part of promoting the book, she spoke at schools and talked of her writing process, as well as appearing at the WayWord festival in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

. A follow-up book is due to be published in February 2018. In 2021 it was announced a new musical based on the book will be opening in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in November. The show includes songs by songwriter

Miranda Cooper Miranda Cooper (born 1975) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and television presenter. Miranda Cooper has worked in the music industry since 1996 when she gained her first recording contract. She worked as a professiona ...

and

Jennifer Decilveo Jennifer Decilveo is an American Grammy-winning, Brit and Mercury Prize-nominated record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. Her production and songwriting credits include Beth Ditto of The Gossip, Bat for Lashes, Andra Day, Porridg ...

and a book by Chris Bush ('' Standing at the Sky's Edge'') and follows Jade who decides to leave class to meet some of the most iconic women from history such as

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...

and, of course,

. The show's UK tour started in 2021 and continued until 2023. In addition to working as an illustrator, Pankhurst also works with teachers and children to share and inspire a love for reading and the stories of notable women.

Personal life

Pankhurst lives in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

with her family, and creates her books in a studio located in a former spinning

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

."Kate Pankhurst"
'Pan Macmillan.com.'' Retrieved 2 March 2022. She has a dalmatian named Olive.

References

External links

* *
Fantastically Great Women musical official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pankhurst, Kate Living people British children's book illustrators British women children's book illustrators English illustrators Alumni of the University of Central Lancashire Year of birth missing (living people) Writers from Liverpool