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achieved this brilliantly and there’s a fantastic tactile quality to Ming! I also love Yu Rong’s curiosity and the research she carries out to find out more. There are so many period and cultural details hidden in amongst the illustrations she has created.”
Jake and Yu Rong met for the first time when they were both attending a symposium on diversity and representation in children’s books. “At the time I was the incoming chair of CILIP’s Youth Libraries Group” says Jake, “and had been having discussions with the group about updating our logo as it didn’t really feel very clear how it related to the group and its specialisms. On the train up to Newcastle I was researching Yu Rong as one of the speakers at the symposium and was blown away by her artwork and e-mailed saying we should chat when we were together. We had breakfast and I spoke to her about our intention to create a new logo. Yu Rong kindly offered to work on this for us and created a logo using her distinctive papercut techniques. We have kept in touch ever since and have worked closely together on numerous projects and activities.”
Jake’s own upcoming projects include a few new books – aimed at both children and educators.
“Natalie Jones, the former Campaigns and Awards manager for CILIP, and I have been working on a book for Facet called Rewarding Reads. It’s about the ways book awards for children can help create a culture of reading and we’ve been working with a range of past judges and chairs from the Carnegies and other specialists in children’s books. It should be publishing later this year. “Fox and Ink publishing have signed a new picture book I’ve written. It’s a silly and fun story which hopefully involves readers in the story itself and when I’ve shared the idea on visits to schools it’s caused a lot of mirth and merriment! Yu Rong and I are also working on some new
16 PEN&INC. Jake Hope.
books together and we’re always talking about and sharing ideas, but it is early days for a lot of these!”
Jake’s association with CILIP’s
Carnegies children’s book awards has proven to be invaluable over the years, and he is currently Carnegies Awards Executive. In this National Year of Reading, he points to the positive impact the awards have had on encouraging young people to read. The Carnegies’ Shadower’s Choice scheme engages with thousands of young readers every year, giving them the opportunitity to read, critique and judge the shortlisted books as a part of a librarian or teacher-led group.
Creating a connection
Jake says: “The Carnegies celebrate the remarkable power of connection between reader and reading matter. This happens at every stage in the award process. Nominations are made based on the book that individual librarians feel are their most outstanding books of the year. Right the way through the process the awards are powered by passion and the time and expertise that judges invest into the process is huge and leads to thoughtful discussion and choices often selecting books and titles that might not have had the biggest marketing push, or that offer a distinct and unusual reading experience.
Spring-Summer 2026
The Carnegies celebrate the remarkable power of connection between reader and reading matter. This happens at every stage in the award process.
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