Dapo Adeola is an illustrator, author and character designer who rocketed into the picture book world with his greatly acclaimed illustrator debut, Look Up!, written by Nathan Bryon and published by Puffin in 2019, which won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2020. Dapo illustrated My Dad is a Grizzly Bear and My Mum Is a Lioness written by award-winning author Swapna Haddow (both published by Macmillan Children’s Books), and collaborated with Malorie Blackman on their picture book We're Going to Find the Monster. Dapo is the author of Hey You!: An Empowering Celebration of Growing Up Black, featuring 18 talented Black British illustrators.
Born in Britain and of Nigerian heritage, Dapo's work tends to revolve around creating characters and imagery that challenge gender norms and equality politics in a fun and upbeat manner. An avid believer in the importance of equal representation in the creative arts, Dapo runs illustration and character design based workshops with children and adults to help highlight the possibilities of a career in illustration to inner city people of various ethnicities. Dapo lives in London.
Dapo will be judging the Alternative Publishing Category.
Instagram: /dapsdraws
Twitter: /dapsdraws
Dapo Adeola, Illustrator, UKDapo