Northern Highlight - Kate Pankhurst
Northern Highlight
Kate Pankhurst
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Where are you based, and how would you sum up the place in three words?
I’ve made my home in Leeds (I’m originally from Liverpool way) and I work from a studio space in an old Spinning Mill at a mill site which is now home to an array of creative businesses (Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley). Three words – surprising, buzzy and … pigeons! (If you leave a window open overnight the mill pigeons like to come inside and make themselves comfortable.)
What is special to you about working with children's books, and what is your favourite thing about it?
I enjoy the feeling of amazement that a small doodle (all my books start with small sketches that seem quite throwaway) can grow, take on a life of its own, and become a finished book. When you get to the end and look back it feels a little like some sort of magic has happened, and I’m never entirely sure how I did it. The magic of the creative process!
(I usually need a little time to appreciate this has happened after finishing a book – I am my own worst critic so when a book goes to print I find it difficult to look at it until a few months later. There is always more I’d like to do, but at some point the book has to be finished and prised from my clammy hands!)
The chance to be part of children’s reading journeys and hopefully a bringer of joy and useful information is very special. I want to make books that children can keep coming back to and finding more each time they visit. That’s the joy of non-fiction books!
Tell us about the most recent book you've worked on or come across in your job.
My most recent book is We Are All Astronauts. It mixes fiction and non-fiction elements as we follow young astronaut-in-training Luna Scope as she discovers what it takes to be a space explorer. (My fascination with space began after visiting the planetarium in Liverpool World Museum with my dad in the 1980s.)
I wanted to explore the brain-fizzing fact that we are, right here, right now, on a planet called Earth, spinning through the Milky Way. Wow! And that with our feet firmly on the ground we can learn all we can about space – just like astronauts. (You could say we are all astronauts! That’s where the title of the book came from!)
The idea really came together after I heard the story of Wally Funk. She was a member of the all-female team of trainee astronauts called the Mercury 13. In the 1960s, they were told space was no place for girls and their mission was scrapped. Wally Funk never gave up on her dream of reaching space, and in 2021, while I was working on this book, she travelled to space as part of the Blue Origin space programme.
If you could be transported to anywhere in the North/Scotland right now, where would it be?
Keeping on a spacey theme – I’ve been to Kielder Observatory in Northumbria’s Dark Skies Park a couple of times now. Both times it has been cloudy so I didn’t see any stars, I think I need a trip back to try again! (Even if it’s cloudy it’s still a brilliant place to visit, you get to see their massive telescopes and learn cool mind-blowing stuff about space while drinking hot chocolate.)
What literary events have you attended or been involved with recently in the North/Scotland?
I’m about to do some children’s events at Farsley Lit Fest right here in Sunny Bank Mills. There are some amazing event spaces here – I’m thrilled to be on the lineup for the children’s day at the Old Woollen with Tom Palmer, Hannah Durkin and Phil Earl. It’s the festival’s second year and they are running a children’s programme for the first time.
Name your favourite children’s book set in the North/Scotland.
I read James Nicol’s The Spell Tailors over summer and that made me think of the cloth and weaving industry in Yorkshire – and Piece Hall in Halifax. (I’m not sure if that was what James used as inspiration but it really made me think of those periods in history and location.)
What advice would you give to aspiring publishing professionals living in the North and Scotland?
Reach out and find others who write and illustrate, there are loads of us up here scattered around. It’s good to meet up with like-minded people in the same industry, and feel connected and inspired. When I started out I struggled to find direction at times, I was working in isolation and didn’t know many others doing the same thing. I started going to SCBWI North events and that really helped me feel motivated and gave me lots of professional development opportunities.
What would you like to see from children's publishing in the North and Scotland?
It would be refreshing to spread more resources and foot-in-door moments for those at the start of their writing/illustrating careers in the North.
Who are your favourite Northern/Scottish children’s authors?
I love reading Bethan Woollvin’s picture books to my children. Meet the Planets written by Sheffield-based Caryl Hart is also a firm favourite. I love magical books, so as mentioned I’m really enjoying reading James Nicol’s books at the moment!
What’s next on your TBR pile by a Northern/Scottish creative?
I think illustrator David Roberts is based in London but I know he hails from my heartland of Liverpool – I’ve just heard about a spooky book he’s illustrated that looks perfect for Halloween that I need to get! – Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley. (I heard about this on Nadia Shireen and Liverpool writing legend Frank Cottrell Boyce’s children’s book podcast 'The Island of Brilliant!'. Listen to it if you haven’t already!)
I also need to read When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle, it’s been on my list for ages!
And picture book Everything Possible by Leeds-based illustrator Alison Brown and Fred Small. (Myself and Alison share an agent, and Alison did an amazing Everything Possible illustrated window in my local indie bookshop Truman’s Books for Pride month.)
You can find Kate on:
Website: https://www.katepankhurst.com/
Instagram: @kateisdrawing
Twitter/X: @KateisDrawing
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