Interview: Kate Rolfe

Preferred Pronoun?
She/They

Why did you choose to enter this work?
Wiggling Words is a very personal project, exploring my personal experience of dyslexia. This book celebrates neurodiversity and thinking differently, as the character uses their unique creativity.

What’s your favourite thing about your shortlisted project?
I love the creative ending. The character makes a whole world out of letters, building a castle, flowers, and animal friends. They bring playfulness to the problem and invent their own way through!

What excites you most about being shortlisted?
It is such a huge honour to be shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards! This project will be my second published book so I am over the moon that it has received so much support and recognition.

Where do you usually work?
In my studio, deep in the heart of the Suffolk countryside. We get a lot of sunshine in Suffolk (very handy for a cyanotype artist!) I love working outside, collaborating with nature in my printmaking

How long did it take to complete your project?
I had the idea for this book in 2021 and over the past 3 years I've developed the story, my visual approach, and have grown SO MUCH as an illustrator!

What is your dream commission?
I'm passionate about stories that tackle difficult subject matter, particularly issues that effect children but might be hard to talk about. Anything a little bit challenging or abstract to visualise!

What’s your favourite thing to draw?
I like visually exploring hard-to-communicate topics, particularly things that aren't visible. I am proudly neurodivergent and spend a lot of time thinking about how to express my different experience

What is your best tip for other illustrators?
Follow the things that interest you most and go deep into them, even if you can't immediately see a link to your work. Following your idiosyncratic passions will inevitably lead you to your voice.

What are your plans for the future?
Making books! Lots of them! I'm working on picture books at the moment which will be published 2025 and 2026, plus gradually working towards something for a different audience too. Watch this space!


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