There’s a new name on bookshelves around the country – Rockpool Children’s Books is an independent publishing company set up by Stuart Trotter, an industry veteran with 28 years’ experience as an illustrator and, now, writer and publisher of his own books.
Smallprint catches up with Stuart to talk about his impressive career and why he decided to go it alone.
“I've been illustrating for about 28 years (which makes me sound ancient) and I’ve been working on children’s books for about 24 years,” he explains. “My introduction to the world of children’s books was through Purnell in Paulton, Somerset. I did a character called Portland Bill. Over the years I’ve illustrated for most of the publishers – Treehouse, Boxer Books, Simon and Schuster, Hodder, Walker, David Bennett Books, Ladybird, Egmont, and so on.
“I was involved with Reed (now Egmont) on Winnie the Pooh (Classic) – I think I’m an accredited Disney Artist as I went on a Disney Classic Pooh course at their headquarters in London. I also did some covers for Enid Blyton’s Five, Ten and Fifteen Minute Tales, and this led onto The Animals of Farthing Wood.
“I did Postman Pat for Hodder for about five years, then Mick Inkpen’s Kipper came along. It was inevitable that such close proximity to this wonderful industry would inspire my own ideas, and so it did.”
