Suzanne Francis Hendra (born 15 August 1973) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

writer and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

of over 70 books for children, including ''Barry the Fish with Fingers'' Her books ''Wanda and the Alien'' and ''Supertato'' have been adapted for television.

Biography

Hendra graduated from the

University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieve ...

in 1994 where she received a bachelor's degree in technology for

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

. She currently lives in Brighton where she works in a shared artists' studio. Hendra has worked as an illustrator for

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

Walker Books Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

and others. Hendra has one daughter named Wanda.

Work

Hendra had been working as an illustrator for several years before she changed her style due to the persuasion of Vicki Willden-Lebrecht of Bright Agency. Hendra's book, ''Barry the Fish With Fingers'' was considered colourful and cheerful by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

''. Hendra used gouache paint and deliberately created bright, flat compositions for the book, which ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' says introduced an "impossibly endearing little fish." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that "Hendra's bright and cheerful undersea characters make the ocean seem like a great place to be." ''No-Bot, the Robot With No Bottom'' won the Picture Book Award in the 2014 Oxfordshire Book Awards. The television adaptation of ''Wanda and the Alien'' was produced for the United Kingdom's Channel 5 Milkshake programming by Random House Enterprises and Komixx Entertainment. "Wanda and the Alien" also appeared on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

and

Nick Jr. Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gr ...

channels in most countries. "Wanda and the Alien" was shortlisted for the 17th Big Chip Award in 2015. Along with Paul Linnet, Hendra wrote a book for 2016's

World Book Day World Book Day, also known as World Book and Copyright Day or International Day of the Book, is an annual event organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to promote reading, publishing, and copyrig ...

titled ''Supertato: Hap-Pea Ever After'' for pre-school children.

References

External links

Official site

Interview

World Book Day - Sue Hendra
(video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hendra, Sue 1973 births Living people 21st-century British women artists Alumni of the University of Brighton British children's writers British illustrators British women children's writers Writers who illustrated their own writing Place of birth missing (living people)