Jackie Morris

“As a child I dreamed of being an artist, of leaving the confines and constraints of school and uniform and essays and exams. I wanted to spend my time painting, to learn the shape of a bird, to capture the soul of a creature, it’s essence in paint like some medieval alchemist. I studied artists, fell in love with the early renaissance, but always came back to animals, birds, watercolour.”

Jackie Morris grew up in the Vale of Evesham and studied at Hereford College of Arts and at Bath Academy. She has illustrated for the New Statesman, Independent and Guardian, has collaborated with Ted Hughes, and has written & illustrated over forty books, including beloved classics such as The Snow Leopard, The Ice Bear, Song of the Golden Hare, Tell Me a Dragon, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, The Wild Swans and The Unwinding. In 2017 the internationally acclaimed The Lost Words, a collaboration with Robert Macfarlane, was released and followed up with The Lost Spells in 2020. Jackie Morris has appeared, painting live on a big screen, at Spell Song Concerts at numerous venues including The Royal Festival Hall, The Royal Albert Hall, and the International Hay Festival and in 2021 from The Natural History Museum. Jackie Morris was awarded The Hay Medal for Illustration 2018 and the CLIK Kate Greenaway Medal 2019 for The Lost Words.

Jackie Morris lives in a cottage on the cliffs of Pembrokeshire.