Working with publishers over the years has given me wonderful opportunities to create new work and see my work published on a variety of themes. The advantage of being an older illustrator is that I come with a lifetime of experience. So when I was asked to do the cover for Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path, I could draw on the experience of having walked that coast path and spent a lot of my youth camping in Cornwall. I hope it is evident in the illustration I made for The Salt Path how much I love Cornwall and what great times I have had exploring its coastline. A Year Unfolding also tells the stories behind some of Angela's most popular images, giving context to Angela's celebrated work, as well as new art created specifically for the book.

A Year Unfolding is Harding's first book and isbilled as both a celebration of her prints and a glimpse into her "detailed and meticulous" process. It will show a journey through the artist's year in nature and tell stories behind some of her most popular images. Her Rotate Albion Press impresses literally and figuratively--it's a gorgeous, useful piece of equipment. Fiona Rose, senior commissioning editor, acquired world rights directly from the author. Publication is scheduled for 4th November 2021. A Year Unfolding is a journey through Angela’s year in nature watching the seasons unfold in front of her from her studio in Rutland, and giving the reader detail into how nature transforms and evolves over the course of the year.

The beautiful illustrations and evocative imagery of the prose make this the perfect book for Angela’s fans and readers and art lovers everywhere.

You’ve created many beautiful and striking book covers, including English Pastoral, The Wild Isles and The Salt Path. What is the process of creating these? Do you approach each project differently?

Summary

A Year Unfolding also tells the stories behind some of Angela's most popular images, giving context to Angela's celebrated work, as well as new art created specifically for the book. The beautiful illustrations and evocative imagery of the prose make this the perfect book for Angela's fans and readers and art lovers everywhere. The prize draw is open to residents of the UK aged 18 or over except employees of the Company, their families, or anyone professionally connected to the prize draw either themselves or through their families. The prize draw opens at 12:01 am BST on 09.09.2021 and closes at 11:59 pm BST on 03.11.2021. Any entries received outside these specified times and dates will not be eligible for entry into the prize draw. The beautiful illustrations and evocative imagery of the prose make this the perfect book for Angela's fans and readers and art lovers everywhere.

I love all the British seasons, but of all of them, it is the energy of spring and early summer that inspires many of my images. I always try to bring movement into my work, so there is a natural fit with the bursts of new growth and new life you get at these times of year. Also, the intensity of colour, the fresh greens of the garden and hedgerow. Birds become so much part of our day in spring and early summer, in the beauty of their songs and in their mad dashing flight to build nests and find mates. All of us have moved so far from a proper connection with the natural world—our comforts come high on what we need or what we think we need. So if my prints are a small reminder of the fact that we are very much part of the natural world, I am honoured. We all cherish those moments when we spot a kingfisher or come across a hedgehog in the garden. I hope, in my work, I communicate some of that joy. So if these wonders of experience with nature are to continue and grow, we need to be reminded how special they are and how much we value them. Nature Poets Series by John Keats and The Thought Fox by Ted Hughes (part of series of Hughes poetry). Other illustrators in this series include Sarah Young, Neil Bousfield, Mark Hearld and Angie Lewin. Both published by Faber & Faber.

This competition is being organised by Little, Brown Book Group Limited of Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ (“Company”). A Year Unfolding is a journey through the seasons. Why did you decide to give early spring and early summer their own chapters? We begin by meeting Angela and finding out about her love of art and the countryside, from her time studying printmaking at Leicester and Nottingham to living in Rutland and sailing on the Suffolk coast.