BOOKISH TYPE: Ed Vere
ED VERE, the 35-year-old artist from London, (pictured left) could be one of the UK’s saviours of children’s picture books. Here the award-winning author of bold, modern and slightly subversive titles, Banana!, The Getaway, and latterly, Mr Big, talks morality, crime and idyllic childhoods spent in the Peak District…
LittleBig: How do you think you have got away with what some might consider risqué material for young children? For example, your Fingers McGraw mouse character in The Getaway who commits serial robbery (of cheese) and tries to enlist the help of the reader?
Ed Vere: I did wonder if it might be a problem - the fact Fingers doesn’t show any remorse for his crimes. But if you consider that as part of a mouse’s character they’re a bit cheeky and have the tendency to occasionally purloin the odd morsel of cheese, you could just about get away with it. Puffin were extremely encouraging. They wanted to do something less conventional, for which I’m very grateful. I think there can be a lot of pressure for English publishers to play it safe - particularly as they perceive the American market to be more conventional.
It seems sometimes that there’s also a perception that the book buying public in the UK aren’t particularly intelligent/sophisticated in their tastes, but I think that people who venture into bookshops to buy books for their children can be assumed to be intelligent people who want good, intelligent and challenging stuff for their children.
LB: Your books have a fabulous pre-war gangster feel to them (in a good way!). You’ve described it as Raymond Chandler for children. What other influences are in there?
Posted 1 October 2008 in Books
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