Dr Katherina Manolessou

Courses taught:

• Children's Book Illustration (Postgraduate)

Katherina is an illustrator and Senior Lecturer on the MA in Children’s Book Illustration. Her research interests lie in methods and contexts of children’s book image-making practices, and she has extensively supervised practice-based PhDs in illustration. As a practicing illustrator, Katherina has written and illustrated picturebooks with Macmillan, Frances Lincoln, and Faber Children’s Books, which have been published in 16 countries. She has worked in editorial and book cover design, for clients including The Guardian, Prospect Magazine, and Penguin Random House.

[email protected]

Background

Katherina originally studied Chemistry in Greece, where she grew up. In the 90s she moved to London to work as a 2D assistant animator for projects including Space Jam and Gorillaz, before going on to study Illustration at Kingston University and Communication Art and Design at the Royal College of Art. For a number of years she worked as a freelance illustrator as well as a lecturer on BA Illustration courses at the University of Westminster and Camberwell College of Arts.

In 2012 Katherina successfully completed her practice-based PhD on animal characterisation in children’s picturebooks at ARU, with Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles as her supervisors. Following the completion of her PhD, Katherina’s research, teaching, and illustration practice focused primarily on children’s picturebooks. In 2016 she joined the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art as a Senior Lecturer, where she leads the Major Project and supervises PhD students. She has examined PhD vivas in the UK and abroad and has given talks about her work in universities across the UK.

Spoken Languages

• English
• Greek

Research interests

• Illustration practice
• Strategies for visual communication in picturebooks
• Practice-based methods and contexts
• Inclusivity and representation in picturebooks

Katherina’s research focuses on the creative practice of children’s picturebook illustrators and how they communicate meaning through image-making, with a particular interest in characterisation. Her current research investigates contemporary children’s books about neurodiversity and mental health and the strategies illustrators employ towards inclusive and authentic representations.

Areas of research supervision

• Illustration
• Children’s books
• Practice-based research
• Visual storytelling
• Multimodal narratives

Successful Vivas and those to be submitted in 2025

As first supervisor:

2025. Neto, Sofia. The Potential of Independent Children's Magazines for the Illustrator: a practice-based investigation.

2023. Al Ghalayini, Hind. Let's talk about death: examining the use of picture books that address bereavement and loss for Muslim children in Saudi Arabia.

2022 Alvarez Astacio, Mrinali. The illustrated letter: a practice-based investigation of epistolary storytelling through illustration.

As second supervisor:

2025 Lostale Seijo, Beatriz. A practice-based exploration of visual, narrative communicative strategies in non-fiction children's books.

2025 Zorilla Drago, Flavia. It’s Alive! A practice-based autoethnographical examination of the creation of horror-inspired picturebooks.

2020 Kohara, Kazuno. A practice-based investigation into relief printing techniques in children’s picturebooks.

As advisor:

2023 Low, Joo Hong. The autoethnographic picturebook: a practice-based investigation into the expressive potential of the form.

2020 Dong, Yang. The unflattened picturebook: a practice-based investigation into the use of the physical form of the book-object as narrative language.

Teaching

• Module leader: Masters Stage Project (Major Project for MA Children’s Book Illustration)
• Tutor: Research and Review (Dissertation for MA Children’s Book Illustration)

Qualifications

• PhD: Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, 2012
• MA Communication Art and Design: Royal College of Art, London, 2002
• BA Hons Illustration: Kingston University, 2000
• BSc Chemistry: University of Patras, Greece, 1995

Memberships, editorial boards

• Higher Education Academy Fellow
• 2013-2015 Children’s Books contributing editor, Varoom Magazine.

Selected recent publications

Published papers:

Manolessou K., Palmer R., Salisbury M. 2015. Engineering the Book: the relevance of material design to investigations of the picturebook, comic and graphic novel. Research Through Design 2015: 21st Century Makers and Materialities. Online.

Manolessou, K., Salisbury.M, 2012. Being there: The role of place in children’s picturebooks. Journal of Writing in Creative Practice, Volume 4, Issue 3, Mar 2012, p.367-399.

Children’s Picturebooks:

As author-illustrator:

Look for Ladybird in Ocean City, Frances Lincoln, 2020

Look for Laydybird in Plant City, Frances Lincoln, 2017

Mummy and Me, Macmillan Children’s Books, 2017

Zoom Zoom Zoom, Macmillan Children’s Books 2014

As illustrator:

T-Veg: The story of a carrot crunching dinosaur, written by Smriti Halls, Frances Lincoln, 2015.

Recent presentations and conferences

Manolessou, K. 2025. The illustrator’s lived experience: autobiographical children’s picturebooks about neurodiversity and mental health. In: 2nd International Children and Youth Perspectives Conference. Charles University, Prague, 18-19 September 2025.

Lostalé, B., Manolessou, K., 2023. Museums in non-fiction picturebooks: negotiating space and storytelling in illustration practice. In: At the Same Table: the position and status of research in children's literature and culture. University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia, 23-25 Nov 2023.

Manolessou, K. 2021. Pattern and the Craft of Picturebooks for Children: Studio and University. In: Tactics and Praxis: Creativity, Pleasure and Ethics in Academic Work, CRASSH, University of Cambridge, 5-8 July 2021.

Manolessou, K., Palmer, R., 2017. The use of frames in Illustration Practice. In: Synergy and Contradiction: How Picturebooks and Picture Books Work, Homerton College, University of Cambridge, 7 Sept 2017.

Manolessou, K. 2012. Animal character design in children’s books: the perspectives of the practitioner and the researcher. In: Varoom Lab/Plymouth University symposium: Boundaries: Illustration- Practice- Research. Plymouth University, 12-14 Sept 2012.