David Lucas

David Lucas - As a child

"I was born in Middlesbrough, where my Mum was a teacher and my Dad worked in the steel works. I am the third of six brothers, and as children we were all dressed the same - same haircut, same jeans, same jumpers. When I was five years old we came to London (my Dad had decided to go to Art College) and at first we lived in a tent before moving to a council flat in Hackney. My parents both loved nature so I often spent holidays exploring forests and wandering on the moors in Yorkshire or by the seashore. I loved ruins and castles too - magical, haunted places. I always enjoyed drawing and in my teens I became fascinated by mythology and fairytales and folklore and began writing stories and inventing imaginary worlds and characters."

As an adult

"I live in east London, close to where I grew up, beside Victoria Park. My home is full of strange old books - books of magic spells and secret alphabets and half forgotten legends. I collect old toys too, and colourful folk art and carvings of scary tribal gods with staring eyes. I've always liked fancy dress parties - it's fun pretending to be someone you're not - and I enjoy being on my own in nature - I love places where I can escape the modern world and imagine I'm living centuries ago. I just feel very lucky to be able to make my living from writing stories and making pictures and mostly I live a very quiet life."

As an artist

"I believe the world is alive with magic - and it's that feeling that really inspires my work. My drawing is picture-writing - I never draw from life - I make patterns, as if I were knitting with ink. Writing, for me, is pattern-making too - putting words together as if they were simple shapes, making story-patterns that are a mixture of autobiography and myth and fairytale. I spend the mornings writing, looking out onto the park, listening to the birds singing and the canal boats chugging past. I paint and draw in my studio near London Fields. As well as making picture books I'm also working on an illustrated fantasy novel."

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Featured Books, with extracts by David Lucas

Christmas at the Toy Museum
David Lucas
Full of enchanting magic, all the excitement of Christmas is packed into this delightful story. It's Christmas Eve and the toys in the museum discover that there are no presents under the tree! How disappointing! Cleverly, they think of a...
Format: Hardback - Released: 01/09/2011
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Lost in the Toy Museum An Adventure
David Lucas
What do toys do when no humans are about? A fabulous night time adventure as all the toys in the museum come to life and play a wonderful game of hide and seek. David Lucas’s illustrations are full of detail...
Format: Hardback - Released: 07/03/2011
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Cake Girl
David Lucas
Tender and touching, Cake Girl is a delicious fantasy in which a lonely and unhappy witch is taught how to be kind and loving by the charming Cake Girl she creates. With no friends for her birthday, the witch makes...
Format: Hardback - Released: 01/10/2009
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Whale
David Lucas
David Lucas has been selected as one of The Big Picture campaign's Best New Illustrators in 2008. Big, bold illustrations are the hallmark of this gorgeous picture book and whales have an unerring fascination to children and adults alike that...
Format: Paperback - Released: 06/09/2007
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Nutmeg
David Lucas
David Lucas has been selected as one of The Big Picture campaign's Best New Illustrators in 2008. Nutmeg lives a very dull life with her old Uncle Nicodemus and Cousin Nesbitt. They eat nothing but cardboard for breakfast, string for...
Format: Hardback - Released: 06/10/2005
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Halibut Jackson
David Lucas
David Lucas has been selected as one of The Big Picture campaign's Best New Illustrators in 2008. See if you can spot the shy and retiring Halibut Jackson in this beautiful picture book from an extraordinary and innovative artist. Halibut...
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/06/2005
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