Printmaker and Illustrator Angela Harding

Angela Harding on Spring Unfurled

Angela Harding is the printmaker and illustrator behind some of the most beautiful books in the bookshop -- Wilding with Isabella Tree, Blossoming with Simon Armitage, and her own Still Waters & Wild Waves. With Spring Unfurled she begins a year-long project that will publish an arresting new book for each season.

'Seasonal change has always been a great inspiration for my artwork. I love the changing light that brings new colours and smells. The seasons are nature's clock, bringing birds from distant shores to nest and breed in our gardens. So it is hard to say exactly when one season stops and the other begins; the changes are not necessarily gradual but come in fits and starts. Seasons have no regard for the official times written down in a calendar. Spring, more than any other of the seasons, is like this.'

This pocket-sized series takes readers on a journey through the seasons, reflecting Angela's view as the nature around her transforms and evolves over the months. Taking in landscapes across the UK, from views from her home studio in Rutland to the Scottish wilderness, via the low-lying marshlands of Suffolk and the windswept hills of Yorkshire, the beautiful illustrations and evocative imagery of the prose make this the perfect book for nature lovers and art lovers everywhere.

Angela Harding lives in the small county of Rutland and works out of the studio at the bottom of her garden in the village of Wing. Angela has worked on the covers for a number of books: including P D James, Ted Hughes, Katya Balen and James Rebanks. Her children's book RSPB Birds by Miranda Krestovnikoff was longlisted for the Klaus Flugge prize. Her most recent children's book Wilding, by Isabella Tree, is an illustrated adaptation of the bestselling book of the name. Other recent publications include Blossomise by Simon Armitage, a Sunday Times bestseller. Angela has written and illustrated three books published by Little, Brown: A Year Unfolding, Wild Light and Still Waters & Wild Waves. Angela's unique and distinct style has become instantly recognisable to nature lovers and book lovers alike, gaining her a huge number of fans who flock to buy her merchandise including calendars, cards, tea towels, totebags and jigsaws. She was the 2024 artist for the Books are my Bag tote bag.