posted on 21 Jul 2024

An Interview with Michelle Maiden

The Letterpress Project has asked authors and illustrators to think about what has inspired them as artists, what their favourite books are and how they relate to their audience - we've also asked them if they themselves are book collectors.

We are delighted to present an exclusive interview with author/illustrator, Michelle Maiden. Michelle grew up in Queens, New York in a creative and ethnically diverse household, her mother a Japanese artist and her father a Jewish American poet. They had lots of unusual pets roaming around the house throughout her childhood, including raccoons, ferrets and a skunk. Many of her memories of these creatures are depicted in her work.

Michelle has been drawing since early childhood and has taken various art courses throughout her life, including at Cornell University in New York. In recent years she has focused primarily on children's book illustration and has studied this at Cambridge Anglia Ruskin University, City Lit in London, and at Guildford Adult Learning. Grandpa Kuma, published by Wacky Bee Books, is her first children's picture book.

You can read what she had to tell us by clicking on the link below:

michelle_maiden.pdf