We are so thrilled to announce that Poonam Mistry has been nominated for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2020 for her stunning picture book, You’re Snug With Me.

The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards celebrates books that create “an outstanding reading experience through illustration.” And Poonam’s You’re Snug With Me definitely does that. Using her distinctive graphic design, along with author Chitra Soundar’s brilliant writing, Poonam’s gorgeous story follows two bear cubs…

At the start of winter, two bear cubs are born, deep in their den in the frozen north.

“Mama, what lies beyond here?” they ask. “‘Above us is a land of ice and snow.”

“What lies beyond the ice and snow?” they ask. “The ocean, full of ice from long ago.”

And as they learn the secrets of the earth and their place in it, Mama Bear whispers, “You’re snug with me.”

This is Poonam’s second nomination for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Award. This year, she was shortlisted for the prestigious prize for her debut picture book, You’re Safe With Me – a truly outstanding achievement.

To date, she has illustrated three books with Chitra Soundar, You’re Safe With Me, You’re Snug With Me and You’re Strong With Me and one stand alone book, How the Stars Came to Be, which was published last month.

The longlist for the 2020 awards will be announced on 20th February, and we are keeping everything crossed!

Poonam Mistry is a freelance illustrator living in the UK and graduated in 2010 with a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration at the University of Hertfordshire.

Her style incorporates her love of nature and her Indian roots and explores the relationships between pattern, shapes and colour. Poonam’s upbringing and childhood have heavily influenced her work, in particular being surrounded by Indian fabrics, paintings and ornaments. She loves folklore tales and stories of Hindu Gods and Goddesses and these have been a rich source of inspiration in a number of her illustrations.

Poonam creates her beautifully intricate images by hand using fine liners and then digitally alters them.