Editorial

Welcome to the first ever full-colour issue of Bookbird. This is an experiment that has been a long-time dream. When the opportunity came to publish a single issue in colour, we decided to concentrate mainly on articles that would benefit from colour, which is to say articles about illustration. Illustration is, of course, enormously important in children's literature, and one of the defining characteristics that distinguishes children's literature from literature for adults. On the other hand, contrary to the general cultural assumption about picturebooks, they are emphatically not only for the youngest children, and the illustrations discussed in this issue – those by the inimitable German illustrator Binette Schroeder, for example – appeal to the widest audience. The widest audience, however, as in so many areas of literature, tends not to include Anglophone readers, and many of the artists discussed in this issue will doubtless be new to readers, since so many wonderful European, South American and Asian illustrators remain unknown in the English-speaking world, which is notoriously resistant to works in translation.

The picturebooks discussed in this issue are works of art as well as literature, but in spite of their excellence, picturebooks have been a source of concern to children's literature professionals, especially in the Anglophone world, where the market for picturebooks has been experiencing severe commercial problems. In an effort to combat these problems and to rekindle interest in picturebooks in the trade and among the book-buying public, a major publicity campaign is under way in Britain. Other countries experiencing problems in the picturebook market might do well to consider the UK model described in the article on The Big Picture.

In addition to several fascinating and beautifully illustrated articles on picturebooks and illustration,we also bring you, in this issue, an article on each of the winners of this year's Hans Christian Andersen Awards – the medal for illustration and the medal for writing. The list of finalists for the HCA award is included, together with a frank article on the judging process by the chair of the jury.

So many delights – happy reading!