Yasmeen Ismail

Written and illustrated by various authors and artists

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards Children's Illustrated & Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2021

Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year 2020

An anthology on the theme of hope ... it includes a rich range of images, poetry, stories and non-fiction - Sunday Times

The stories and poems celebrate animals, nature, courage, kindness and books. They include tales about finding friends or overcoming fears, and many have surprising twists or jokes, with illustrations that suggest anticipation or happiness... This book will sustain you - Children's Book of the Week, The Sunday Times

In difficult times, what children really need is hope. And in that spirit, bestselling author Katherine Rundell emailed some of the children's writers and artists whose work she loved most:

'I asked them to write something very short, fiction or non-fiction, or draw something that would make the children reading it feel like possibility-ists: something that would make them laugh or wonder or snort or smile. The response was magnificent, which shouldn't have surprised me, because children's writers and illustrators are professional hunters of hope ... I hope that the imagination can be a place of shelter for children and that The Book of Hopes might be useful in that, even if only a little.'

I was fortunate enough to have been asked to contribute to this wonderful endeavour.

Children’s Books Ireland, An Post and The Irish Times

I was commissioned by the wonderful Children’s Books Ireland to create a piece of activity artwork for Imagine-Nation, an activity book that was sent to thousands of children in Ireland (in conjunction with An Post) during the 2020 Lockdown. After that success, the book then got reprinted and given away as a supplement with The Irish Times Weekend edition to hundreds of thousands of families across Ireland.

A wonderful opportunity.

I was honoured to have been asked to be the official illustrator for the 2015 nationwide reading campaign led by Children's Books Ireland. I was commissioned to create a suite of illustrations to be distributed as posters, bookmarks, stickers and other promotional materials across schools and libraries all over Ireland.

I was delighted to be offered the opportunity to be asked to illustrate the National Portrait Gallery’s annual Family Trail for the BP Portrait Awards 2015. This included creating an activity pack, wall decals, merchandise and signs throughout the gallery. The exhibition ran through summer 2015.

I was asked by the Bright Agency to create this illustration for their Christmas campaign. It features Kiki and Bobo from the Kiki and Bobo books published by Walker Books UK.

Written by Shane O’Brien and Stephen Rogers

Illustrated by a collection of Irish Illustrators

“How will Santa Find Us” tells the story of a little girl and her younger brother who lose their home in the week before Christmas.

In 2019 I was honoured to be approached by Bren Byrne from Offset Ireland who asked me to be one of several illustrators working together to illustrate “How Will Santa Find us?”.

This project is a means of response from the Irish creative community – to raise awareness, create empathy among Irish children and to raise funds to help provide vital homeless services.

I am so glad to have been a part of it.

I was asked by Wacom to produce an image to celebrate a new project in development. This image would then be printed on around one million motherboards (inside the product). So it will be under people's fingertips even if they cannot see it.

I was lucky enough to receive a motherboard myself, with my drawing printed on it. A very exciting project that I am so honoured to have been part of.

As a Blue Apple Author-Illustrator, I was asked to take part in their A-Z of Illustrators campaign, a celebration of Blue Apple Books 10th anniversary as a New York children's publisher.

I was invited to contribute to this wonderful collection of nursery rhymes by Seven Stories.  This exciting venture was curated by Elizabeth Hammill OBE, co-founder of Seven Stories.  
Published October 2014

OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY
A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes from Around the World
By Elizabeth Hammill

Each double-page spread is illustrated by a different artist, who has donated his or her work to the Collection or Archive at Seven Stories, Britain's National Centre for Children's Books. With 77 featured artists, this is a star-studded roll call of international award-winners and world-class bestselling illustrators.

Each year illustrators are invited to draw The Red Chair and produce a physical piece of artwork which Bath Festival use to promote that years Festival. The pieces are then auctioned off during the festival.

I was invited by Waterstones to create an image for their blog as a nominee for The Waterstones Children's Book of the Year Awards in 2014.  They wanted it to include my character, 'Fred',  from my debut children's book, 'Time for Bed, Fred!'.

This illustration was commissioned by Adweek Magazine NY, to accompany a feature article in their ‘Kids’ themed issue, March 2012.