Maisie Shearring

Born in 1991, British illustrator Maisie Shearring – a graduate of the Cambridge School of Art – has won the 6th edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair – Fundación SM International Award for Illustration.

As winner she received 30 thousand dollars and the task of illustrating a book to be published by the SM Group. The book will be presented at the 2016 edition of the Fair, where Maisie Shearring is also due to hold a personal exhibition of her work.

The expert jury made the following comments: “we found in this illustrator all of the characteristics that, in our opinion, are necessary for the art of illustration: a balance of colour, the capacity to create credible living characters; narrative strength, thanks to which each image is a fragment of an evolving story with a ‘before’ and an ‘after’; the depth of the illustration, a sign that goes beyond the superficial and transcends the mere act of drawing. We were unanimous in our selection due to this illustrator’s subtle sense of humour in the works on display, mixing nostalgia with a feel for the poetic. We feel that this young artist has huge potential to evolve and to develop an original voice within the current panorama of illustration”.