Catherine Rayner studied illustration at Edinburgh College of Art. She fell in love with the city and still lives there with her family and a small menagerie of creatures including Shannon the horse, Ena the cat and a goldfish called Richard, all of whom inspire her artwork.
In 2008 Catherine was selected as one of the Ten Best New Illustrators for Booktrust's Big Picture Campaign. She has been short-listed for the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal four times, and won in 2009 for Harris Finds His Feet. In addition to illustrating for other authors such as Michael Bond, Holly Webb and Michael Morpurgo, she has also written her own picture books, including Ernest, Solomon Crocodile, Solomon and Mortimer and Smelly Louie, which won the Peter's Book of the Year award in 2015.
Julia Eccleshare, the editorial expert on Lovereading4kids says, Prize winning illustrator Catherine Rayner has created stunning picture books introducing delightful characters including Harris, a hare with exceptionally large feet and Ernest, a moose who is determined to get himself into a book – no mean feat when you are too big to fit in the pages. Gorgeous, warmly coloured large scale pictures lie at the heart of Catherine’s work.
Find her in Instagram @catherine.rayner
Illustrator photo copyright Mark Miller