Emily Sutton
Emily Sutton (born 1983) is an English illustrator. She is known for her illustrations in children's picture books inspired by vintage artwork and old objects.
Emily Sutton
- Born
- 1983
- Occupation
- illustrator · artist
- Fields
- book illustration · illustration · graphics
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Emily Sutton (born 1983) is an English illustrator. She is known for her illustrations in children's picture books inspired by vintage artwork and old objects.
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Note VALÉORINE
Emily Sutton (born 1983) is an artist and illustrator. Activity centred on book illustration, graphics and illustration. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q112559920 · wikipedia · Emily Sutton
In this article
Early life and education
Early life and education
Sutton was born in North Yorkshire in 1983. She spent the first four years of her childhood living on her family farm in the Yorkshire Wolds. As a child, she loved picture books, especially those filled with detail like those by Maurice Sendak and Richard Scarry. She went to Bootham School. She studied at the Edinburgh College of Art, graduating in 2008. She also attended York College and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Career
Career
After graduating from university in 2008, Sutton started working professionally as an illustrator, specializing in the illustration of children's books. She takes inspiration from the work of Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden, and lithographed children's books from the United States. She often features objects she has found in museums and antique shops. She has designed packaging for a number of brands including Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, Charlie Bigham's, and Fortnum & Mason. In 2014, Sutton had a solo exhibition titled Emily Sutton Town and Country, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The exhibition featured paintings, screen prints, and handmade birds. For Christmas 2023, she designed the Neverland-themed artwork for the annual Christmas show at Castle Howard. As of 2023, she has illustrated over twenty children's picture books, collaborating with a number of authors including Anne Twist, Nicola Davies, Michael Bond, and Katherine Rundell. In 2024, Sutton illustrated Shakespeare's First Folio: All The Plays: A Children's Edition, an abridged edition of William Shakespeare's First Folio for children. The book was sponsored by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and edited by Anjna Chouhan, a teacher and scholar at the charity. Journalist Meghan Cox Gurdon, writing in the Wall Street Journal, noted that Sutton had "lavishly illustrated" each play's cast, including images of "red-cheeked gentlemen, sword-wielding warriors and ladies in striking attire."
Personal life
Personal life
Sutton lives in a Victorian terraced house in Yorkshire with her schnoodle Mouse.
Author
Illustrator
• Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day (2011) • Clara Button and the Wedding Day Surprise (2013) • Tiny: The Invisible World of Microbes (2014) • The Christmas Eve Tree (2015) • The Tale of the Castle Mice (2016) • Lots: The Diversity of Life on Earth, published as Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth in the United States (2017) • One Christmas Wish (2017) • A First Book of the Sea (2018) • The Ups and Downs of the Castle Mice (2019) • Ernestine's Milky Way (2019) • Grow: Secrets of Our DNA (2020) • Jumbo: The Most Famous Elephant Who Ever Lived (2020) • The Season of Giraffes (2022) • Courage Like Kate: The True Story of a Girl Lighthouse Keeper (2022) • Betty and the Mysterious Visitor (2023) • Green: The Story of Plant Life on Our Planet (2024) • The World to Come (2024) • King Winter's Birthday (2025)
Awards and honours
In 2011, Sutton was awarded the Elle Decoration British Design Award for her Curiosity Shop fabric. In 2015, the book Tiny: The Invisible World of Microbes which Sutton illustrated won an AAAS award for best picture book. That year, the book also was nominated for a CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. In 2017, The Times and The Guardian named One Christmas Wish by Katherine Rundell and illustrated by Sutton as one of the best children's books of the year. The book tells the story of a boy who is left home alone on Christmas with a babysitter by his parents. After making a wish on a shooting star to be "un-alone", four Christmas decorations come to life. In 2021, the National Science Teaching Association named Grow: Secrets of Our DNA one of the Outstanding Science Trade Books of the year.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The Scottish Gallery. Emily Sutton.
- 2.Illustrator Emily Sutton on her favourite things about Yorkshire. Great British Life. 31 October 2023.
- 3.Picture Alphabet Print by Emily Sutton. Sessions & Co. 19 October 2018.
- 4.An artist at home. Yorkshire Post. 15 November 2014.
- 5.Victoria & Albert Museum. Pursuing a Strange Hat. 8 December 2011.
- 6.Meet the whimsical illustrator tapping into childhood nostaglia. Country Living. 21 March 2025.
- 7.Emily Sutton. Town and Country. Meer. 13 August 2014.
- 8.Ellis, Nathan. Castle Howard's Epic Christmas Fairytale Experience Begins This Month. The Yorkshireman. 1 November 2023.
- 9.Gurdon, Meghan Cox. Children's Books: Shakespeare the Storyteller. The Wall Street Journal. 17 April 2024.
- 10.Tiny Creatures. AAAS/Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books.
- 11.Wade, Francesca. Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals: longlists announced. The Telegraph. 10 February 2015.
- 12.One Christmas Wish. Publishers Weekly.
- 13.Williams, Imogen Russell. The best children's books of 2017. The Guardian. 2 December 2017.
- 14.O'Connell, Alex. The best children's books of 2017. The Times. 2 December 2017.
- 15.OSTB 2021. nsta.org.
- 16.CLARA BUTTON AND THE MAGICAL HAT DAY. kirkusreviews.com.
- 17.The Whole Wide World (Published 2014). The New York Times. 13 August 2014.
- 18.How to draw. a Christmas Eve tree - in pictures. The Guardian. 22 December 2015.
- 19.Stevenson, Deborah. Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth by Nicola Davies (review). Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 71. 3. 113. 7 December 2017. 10.1353/bcc.2017.0769.
- 20.ONE CHRISTMAS WISH. kirkusreviews.com.
- 21.A FIRST BOOK OF THE SEA. kirkusreviews.com.
- 22.Michael Bond Castle Mice sequel to be published posthumously. bbc.com. 9 October 2018.
- 23.Ernestine's Milky Way. Publishers Weekly.
- 24.Grow: Secrets of Our DNA. Publishers Weekly.
- 25.https://www.proquest.com/openview/21193c43589ace605b2821b7d5eb3c43/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=296199
- 26.Light Hearted ep 188 – Anna Crowley Redding, 'Courage Like Kate'. U.S. Lighthouse Society News. 27 August 2022.
- 27.BETTY AND THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR. kirkusreviews.com.
- 28.Quealy-Gainer, Kate. Green: The Story of Plant Life on Our Planet by Nicola Davies (review). Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 77. 5. 173. 7 December 2024. 10.1353/bcc.2024.a915130.
- 29.The World to Come. Publishers Weekly.
- 30.KING WINTER'S BIRTHDAY. kirkusreviews.com.
- 31.O'Connell, Alex. Penny and the Little Lost Puppy by Emily Sutton review — a charming debut that unpacks the pain of moving home. The Times. 10 April 2021.
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
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