Lovely Freya Blackwood has just won the Kate Greenaway medal for 2010 for her illustrations on the book Harry & Hopper.
We managed to sneak a quick five minutes with her.
Home is Australia, in a small city called Orange where she lives with her little daughter Ivy who is just 4. She lives in a little brick house round the corner from her parents and her grandparents.
Freya and Ivy love to play at make-believe together while Ivy pretends to be all the animals under the sun, the louder and the bigger the better.
The older Ivy gets the more influence she has on Freya’s work and her presence comes through in a lot of her characters.
Freya’s favourite place in the world is her own bed or her parents farm where she will be made a cup of tea and she can watch her Dad take Ivy out on the tracter. It is bliss.
She has never been to London before and has vowed to return to try the beer, drink proper English tea and explore the city more.
Her work in film has a huge influence on the way she frames her stories. The illustrations are big and bold with a poignant almost filmic quality.
She carries a pad and pen with her at all times but to write in, never to draw. The drawing happens in her studio, away from the world.
What she most loves is creating little worlds within the world.
Her favourite illustrators are Emily Gravett and Joel Stewart and her early memories of books are all the creations of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake.
If she had to choose a favourite character in children’s literature it has to be Max from Where the Wild Things Are.
She would take the beach over the mountains.
She adores dogs.
Her favourite tipple is a cup of tea and she can never get past chocolate when choosing an ice-cream flavour. She is mad for chocolate.
Freya is currently working on a third collaboration with Libby Gleeson and is bubbling over with enthusiasm for all the projects and possibilities for the future. Expect BIG things.