Meet the author

Emily Hughes.

Writer & illustrator · United Kingdom

Emily Hughes: Hawaiian-born British picture-book maker behind Wild, The Little Gardener and Charlotte and the Quiet Place — Ghibli-flavoured nature-led picture books for ages 3–7.

Emily Hughes is a Hawaiian-born British illustrator (and sometimes author) best known for Wild, her debut picture book about an undomesticated forest child who refuses to be tamed by a human family, and for The Little Gardener, Charlotte and the Quiet Place, and her illustrations on the recent Anne of Green Gables anniversary edition. Hughes's style is densely detailed, slightly Studio-Ghibli-inflected, with intricate forest backgrounds, expressive characters and a melancholic-but-warm sensibility. A reliable picture-book maker for ages 3–7 in the gentle-emotional, nature-led register. Strong giftability for adult co-readers who value art-school-quality illustration.