Author & Illustrator Thanks for chatting with us Philip. What do you love most about kids books? Children's books – especially picture books – are the perfect platform on which intergenerational bonds can be built. In my experience both as an author and a parent, there is no better way to connect with the tiny humans in your life than through reading good books together. Beyond the quality of the interaction, positive experiences with books from an early age will – with any luck – foster a love of reading in the child, and latterly help them find joy in education and learning. Did you have a favourite childhood book? I was really (really, really, really...) into dinosaurs as a child, and so my favourites were – and are, still! – quite dry, non-fiction, fact-heavy books about dinosaurs. The way these books used to be illustrated, in almost photorealistic gouache/watercolour was just beautiful and awe-inspiring to the 4-to-10-year-old me. The majority of contemporary non-fiction reference books tend to be illustrated in a very styled, flat, modernist way. These books look great as a standalone product (or even as an addition to a publisher's carefully-curated stable) but I feel the contemporary non-fiction style often bypasses the substance, forgetting the awe along the way. Does it take long to create a book? Books can be decades in the making. Even the simplest premises, characters and constructs can be built from a thousand ideas, influences and idiosyncrasies coalescing at the right moment. For me, physically writing a picture book takes only hours or minutes; editing takes days or weeks; and illustrating takes weeks or months. Have you ever read a book before, that you didn't like? Mr. Funny certainly did not live up to the promise of the title. What inspires you to write? I am inspired to write and create books by the drive to leave the world in better shape than it was, when I got here. If we all do our little bit to advance the collective consciousness – even by just a whisker – then we will begin to have a chance at improving the wellbeing of the Earth, and everyone on it. This manifests in a handful of common themes in my work – such as consciousness, oneness, and the beautiful, cyclical nature of all things. Overt allusion to (or explicit description of) flatulence also seems to manifest more than I'm comfortable with. Any new up coming titles coming out soon, that we should be looking out for? Yes! My latest book with my better half, Laura (pictured) is out now: Another-Book-About-Bears And I have a few books due for publication in the months ahead. I'm only the illustrator on all of these, but there's heaps more to come from me in 2020 and beyond: - Mum For Sale, by Zanni Louise (April 2019) - Bad Crab, By Amelia McInerney (July 2019) - Liarbird, by Laura Bunting (September 2019) You can find more about Philip Bunting and his books at: philipbunting.com Instagram @philip.bunting You can find Philip Bunting at www.readings.com.au www.booktopia.com.au www.bookdepository.com www.amazon.co.uk www.fishpond.com.au www.wordery.com
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