“Your brain goes off in nice creative tangents when you’re not thinking too hard.”
Helen’s Instagram|twitter|website|shop
I know I seem to say this every week, but author and illustrator Helen Stephens is truly one of my very best friends. She’s also brilliantly successful, with her books for children winning multiple awards, being adapted for stage, featured on BBC Children’s television and appearing on the shelves of millions of happy children worldwide.
Things we talked about
- Fleabag – the book Helen wrote about the dog at Battersea Dog’s home
- Fleabag on CBeebies Bedtime Hour
- How to Hide a Lion
- How to Hide a Lion the stage show!
- Helen’s publisher, Alison Green
- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and the corresponding podcast
- Illustrator Gerry Turley, Helen’s partner
- Oliver Jeffers (“Are you good enough?”)
- Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook
Extra things
- We didn’t mention it, but Helen’s illustrated a few books for Michael Morpurgo, including this one that is set in Venice, with a little girl she said she sort of kind of based on me. Naturally, I have been quoting her on that ever since?
- Helen and her partner Gerry are currently working on illustrated products for a little online shop they’ll be opening soon. Having had a sneaky peak at some of what they’re making, I can safely promise you you’ll definitely want to have a look once it’s live. You can sign up for notifications about it here.
- My course, The Insta Retreat which goes on sale in just under 1 week! Get on the email list to be the first to hear.
