Have you been to book fairs before, and, if so, what have you made of them?

Nope, this is my first time at one. I’ve heard nothing but good things, so I look forward to it.

What are you most looking forward to in your role as the Illustrator of the Fair?

I’m mostly looking forward to my conversation with the awesome Kelechi Okafor. Other than that, I’m very open to everything as it’s my first fair.

You run frequent workshops. What have you learned from this about young people, their talents, and their opportunities to develop as illustrators?

My workshops aren’t as frequent as they once were due to my workload. But the nature of my work brings me in frequent contact with children. And the thing I love about them is how unafraid they are when it comes to drawing. Their opportunities to develop as illustrators or creatives are sadly largely down to us adults and the amount of encouragement we give them to pursue their dreams from a young age. This is why it’s important that we as creatives dispel the negative myths about our industry and make what we do behind the scenes more visible for children to see, so they have an understanding, and a way to access and connect with the roles they might want to step into in the future.

How important are illustrated books to children’s learning and development?

Illustrated books are massively important to learning and development. They’re a great tool for enhancing literacy, and also teaching and informing visual literacy and comprehension amongst other things key to a child’s development. Illustrated books are also a great way for non-readers to access stories. It’s been proven that making novels available in graphic novel editions actually helps children (and some adults), who wouldn’t otherwise read a book, get stuck into a story with the aid of the artwork.

The importance of diversity is much better recognized in publishing than it was just a few years ago. How much progress is still to be made?

The industry is a funny one to me. While I think things have definitely improved, I still think there’s a long way to go. Diversity and inclusion don’t work without equity, and as such, they still run the risk of being just a trend if the changes being made aren’t being sustained through grassroots work and structural change. There’s still a ton of progress to be made in those areas.

Do you enjoy the collaborative process of working with authors?

I do enjoy the collaborative process of working with both authors and other illustrators. I’ve been fortunate to work with a good few in my career so far. That being said though, I’m definitely ready to start my own author journey proper. I think the issues occur in collaboration when illustrators are only seen as a tool to bring the publisher or author’s vision to life, as opposed to the illustrator being given an opportunity to really shape the story as well, which is why I encourage illustrators to explore their own writing as well, should they find collaboration a struggle or a letdown.

Since publication of Waterstones Prize-winning Look Up! in particular, you have been in great demand. How do you manage to fit everything in?

I don’t fit everything in to be honest. I’ve had a whirlwind of a four years since Look Up! was published and I’d be lying if I said it was all roses. I’m constantly tired and I’ve been working through burnout for the best part of my four-year career. Luckily, I have a great agent and core teams at all my publishers, who’ve helped me put things in place to better manage and strategize when it comes to my career. I’ve learned a ton about my mental and physical capacity, and what a good work/life balance/imbalance really looks like. I’m still learning so much about what it takes to sustain a career in this industry, and as full-on and steep a learning curve as it’s been, I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Dapo Adeola will be in conversation with Kelechi Okafor on the Main Stage today at 11.00 a.m.