Sara Fanelli

• Occupation — Artist and illustrator • Birthplace — Florence, Italy • Education — *Camberwell College of Art • Royal College of Art

Fanelli was born in Florence.She came to London to study art at Camberwell College of Art and then the Royal College of Art where she graduated in 1995.

She divides her time between illustration work, books and self-generated projects. She has written and illustrated children's books which have been published in many languages and have earned her international awards and commendations. She has won several international awards including twice being the overall winner of the Victoria and Albert Museum Illustration Award. She won the D&AD Silver Awards for a postage stamp in 2000, for poster design in 2003, and for her book "Sometimes I think, sometimes I am" in 2008. Sara Fanelli became an HonRDI in 2006, the first woman illustrator to be awarded this honour. Member of AGI since 2000. In 2006 Sara Fanelli was commissioned by Tate Modern to design their four permanent collection gallery entrances and a 40 metres long Timeline of 20th Century artists. This art installation was published in April 2012 on STUDIO Architecture and Urbanism magazine, edited by Romolo Calabrese, in its issue#02 Original. My Map Book is Fanelli's work most widely held in WorldCat libraries by a margin nearly 2-to-1. The picture book with one folded map in a pocket was published in 1995 by All Books for Children (one "ABC Books") and within the year by HarperCollins, later reissued by Walker Books. At the annual conference of the Children's Literature Association in June 2014, it was named next year's winner of the Phoenix Picture Book Award, which annually recognizes the best picture book that did not win a major award 20 years earlier. "Books are considered not only for the quality of their illustrations, but for the way pictures and text work together."