The Author Ambassador celebrates one international author annually.
The new ambassador for 2024 is the award-winning illustrator, and author, Neil Packer, whose new book, La Parabola del Panificio Indipendente (The parable of the independent bakers), is published by Camelozampa in April.
Neil Packer, is an award-winner illustrator, and author. Neil studied graphics, illustration and printmaking at Colchester and he has spent many years working not just in publishing but also in advertising and graphic design.
For the Folio Society he's illustrated everything from Catch 22 to The Complete Works of Shakespeare. He approaches the most difficult subjects with a great deal of care and expertise - and the results have been hugely successful. Their illustrated limited edition of The Divine Comedy was sold out in three weeks.
In Bloomsbury's illustrated children's edition of Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan Neil chose to illustrate the various different periods by using art styles of that time, a feat which most artists would find daunting but he strode through the whole process in great style and the book is now available in twelve foreign editions.
Always fascinated by the idea of taxonomy, Neil's own book, One of a Kind, is published by Walker Books and Candlewick. It's an ingenious interweaving of the story of a young boy seen as a journey through various different means of classifying and sorting things into where they belong.
In 2021 Neil worked with Jim Kay on the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Bloomsbury.
He's written a parable about an elderly couple who once made special bread which delighted the inhabitants of their town, but they later fell foul of the corporate world. The first publication of this charming but chilling book will be in Italian, by Camelozampa, the Italian publishers of One of a Kind.
Awards
2021 The BolognaRagazzi Award, Non-Fiction, for One of a Kind
2022 The winner of the Limited Editions category of the British Book Design and Production Awards, for The Divine Comedy
2023 The Cento Children's Literature Prize, and also the Premio Andersen, also for One of a Kind
Neil Packer will be speaking at the BBPlus Theatre on Tuesday 9 April.