For this month’s TPP Book Club interview, we were delighted to feature our first illustrator of the series, Lauren O’Hara.
TPP: What do you think makes Oscar Wilde’s children’s stories so special?
LO: I think Oscar Wilde’s stories are so special because, while on the surface they are simple fairytales that can be understood by even the youngest reader, they have a great deal of depth running beneath them.
Wilde’s stories explore real suffering, sacrifice, and compassion. Stories like The Happy Prince or The Selfish Giant don’t shy away from sadness, which makes them feel honest and moving, yet he manages to do all of this without ever feeling preachy or moralising. But more than anything, they are simply fantastic stories, beautifully written, which I think is the core reason they have endured.
TPP: Why do you think they are still so loved today?
LO: Wilde’s fairytales still feel incredibly timely, and I think there is a lot to be taken from them by both children and adults. They explore the importance of kindness, resisting the cruelty of the powerful, friendship, betrayal, and the power of love – all themes that continue to resonate strongly with modern audiences.
TPP: Which was your favourite Oscar Wilde story to illustrate?
LO: That’s a hard question to answer, as they are all so uniquely lovely, and each was a joy to find a visual language for.
I have a very special place in my heart for The Happy Prince. I grew up with an edition my mum brought with her when she fled the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 at the age of 14. She packed her book instead of her winter coat.
I also loved illustrating The Devoted Friend. There was more freedom with this story, as it has been illustrated less frequently than some of Wilde’s better-known works like The Happy Prince, so it felt less pressured.
TPP: Are there any challenges when illustrating someone else’s stories?
LO: At the most basic level, sometimes you have to draw something you really don’t want to draw! With longer stories like Wilde’s, though, there is usually enough text that you can choose which moments to illustrate, allowing you to avoid anything you truly don’t want to tackle.
It can also be challenging to illustrate stories that have been illustrated before. You don’t want to lean too closely on other illustrators’ work, so finding a unique visual voice can be difficult. Wilde has been illustrated by some real titans – Nika Goltz, Aubrey Beardsley, and Lisbeth Zwerger, to name just a few.
TPP: What do you love best about being an illustrator?
LO: For me, there is something astonishingly magical about taking a blank page and conjuring entire worlds onto it.
It’s also wonderful knowing that my work will be enjoyed by children at bedtime and being part of the magic of those early experiences of being read to by a caregiver.
TPP: What advice would you give to aspiring illustrators?
LO: Try not to compare yourself to other illustrators. Only you have your unique voice, and your job is to find and nurture it. Don’t be too hard on yourself – even 20 years into my career, most of the work I produce still ends up on the cutting room floor.
TPP: Who inspires you in your work?
LO: My work has definitely been influenced by the Eastern European illustrators and aesthetic I grew up with through my Czech/Polish mum. The works of Jiří Trnka, Josef Wikon and Stepan Zavrel, have been a big influence. There’s a romantic, inky quality to their work that I think comes through in my painting style.
The paper-cut borders in this book were also inspired by the paper cuts of Hans Christian Andersen, who, alongside being a writer, was an incredible visual artist.
TPP: Have you always been an illustrator?
LO: I studied illustration and fine art at university, but it took me a while to return to illustration as a career. After graduating, I worked in film and TV art departments, and later at a design agency designing window displays.
I only came back to illustrating when my writer sister suggested we create a book together. That project became our first book, Hortense and the Shadow.
TPP: Do you have a favourite illustrator?
LO: So many! Lisbeth Zwerger, Maurice Sendak, Beatrice Alemagna, Alice and Martin Provensen, Tove Jansson…
TPP: What do you like to do when you’re not writing and illustrating?
LO: I have a 10-month-old daughter, Theodora, who keeps me very busy! It’s been a delight introducing her to the books I loved as a child, like Each Peach Pear Plum, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, and In the Night Kitchen, alongside new favourites such as The Queen in the Cave and The Barnabus Project.
TPP: If you weren’t an illustrator, what would you like to be?
LO: I’ve been taking a class in ceramics at a night school in Dublin, and I’d love to one day have the time to focus on making pottery.
TPP: Do you have a career highlight so far? If so, what would it be?
LO: My sister Natalia and I getting our first book deal with Puffin for Hortense and the Shadow was incredibly unexpected and astonishing.
Another highlight was working with Sophie Dahl on Madame Badobedah, during which I met the real-life tortoise who inspired Esio Trot by her grandfather, Roald Dahl.
