Kate Pankhurst

What inspired your book? 📚✨ We asked this weekend’s Young Readers authors @sophyhenn @rashmiwriting @kateisdrawing @joshuaseigal what sparked the ideas behind their stories. Discover more about these incredible books at this weekend’s Young Readers events + expect lots of creativity and book filled fun! Book at brightonfestival.org

Repost! @plum_agency Has the amazing #ArtemisII mission sparked an interest in all things space for your little ones? Keep that spark ignited by picking up a copy of the #OutOfThisWorld book from our Plum @kateisdrawing and @bloomsburychildrens , We Are All Astronauts! Discover what it takes to become a space explorer in this fun-filled, fact-packed book that follows budding astronaut Luna Scope and her granny, as they learn what skills Luna will need to make her space dreams a reality 👨‍🚀 Reach for the stars and blast off into a world of possibility with We Are All Astronauts, online and in bookshops near you! 🚀🌌 • #Space #ScienceKids SpaceKids

Reach for the stars! Artemis II is GO! 🌙🌓🌕 Space engineer and mission specialist Christina Koch is set to become the first women to orbit the moon. 🌙 Christina holds the record for the most consecutive days spend in space (328) and was part of the first all-female space walk. She has appeared in a few of my books now, including We are All Astronauts. Good luck to Christina and the rest of the astronauts, I’ll be thinking of you as I look at the moon this evening! And, did you know in 1968 the Soviet Union sent 2 tortoises to orbit the moon? Space tortoises … a whole other book. #kidsnonfictionbooks #artemis #womeninspace #weareallastronauts #christinakoch

Well that was fun! Teeny book cover cakes and massive suffragette sashes! The wonderful team @bloomsburychildrens organised a celebration to mark TEN YEARS of Fantastically Great Women at my amazing local bookshop @trumanbooksleeds . (Who are now officially the @thebritishbookawards Best Bookshop in the North!) Fantastic to have a chance to celebrate the milestone and thank everyone who has worked on the books along the way 💜 I’ve learned so much working on these books and feel super lucky to be able spread good vibes and inspiration with the stories of these amazing women. So a massive thank you if you’ve got one from the series on your bookshelf! A massive thank you to my friend and studio mate @zoeeady for making the coolest suffragette sashes for the occasion, a very lovely surprise! More new Fantastically Great Women coming to you later in the year ✏️✏️✏️ @plum_agency 💜🤍💚

Happy International Women’s Day! 💕📚 Name three great women? EASY PEASY! 💁🏼‍♀️🦹🏾‍♀️👩🏽‍🏭 You can read about even more GREAT women in the wonderful Fantastically Great Women series by @kateisdrawing , celebrating its 10th year anniversary 📚💕 Out now online and at all good bookshops! 📚 #internationalwomensday #fantasticallygreatwomen #childrensbooks #nonfictionforkids

Happy World Book Day! I just wanted to say that if you were frantically assembling a costume at 11 p.m. last night or busily crafting a potato to look like a book character, it was all worth it! 2026 is the Year of Reading, the aim is to tackle the reading for pleasure crisis and to get more children choosing to pick up a book. (Rates of children who say they read for pleasure are at a 20-year low, for many reasons including years of lack of government investment/interest in public and school libraries as well as the arts in general—the cost of living, screens, other distractions of modern life, and more.) Reading for pleasure is a superpower, and all children deserve access to it. It builds empathy, happiness, and improves future life chances… we’ve all been part of that journey today. Let’s carry it on by making every day World Book Day! (And we are now officially relieved of sourcing dressing-up items for another year!) For the love of football, we went as Harry Kane from Kane Rules by Simon Mugford and Dan Green. And for the love of hilarious magical stuff, Tiga Whicabim from Witch Wars by @sibeal.pounder illustrated by @laura_ellen_anderson #yearofreading #worldbookday @literacy_trust

What an amazing event today at @qcpslondon with Kate Pankhurst, the bestselling author/illustrator of the #FantasticallyGreatWomen series! Students were celebrating both World Book Day AND International Women’s Day by learning about incredible women from history, from Emmeline Pankhurst to Amelia Earhart. They even got to draw their own Boudiccas! What an inspiring afternoon - thank you to @kateisdrawing , @bloomsburychildrens and @qcpslondon for making it happen 📕 👩🏻‍🎨📗👩‍🏭📖🧕🏾📚

Today is the day! Hello new covers and happy tenth birthday girls! Published today: Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World Fantastically Great Women Who Made History Fantastically Great Women Who Saved the Planet Fantastically Great Women Who Worked Wonders 10 year anniversary editions by Kate Pankhurst @kateisdrawing

Some process drawings for new ten year anniversary Fantastically Great Women inductee – Taylor Swift! I’ve had SO much fun researching and bringing her spread for the anniversary editions to life. So many outfits, album covers and music videos to use as reference! I really like the early pencil sketches and plans for this one where I decided to use fan art vibes to create her montage spread. A supremely creative force for good, Taylor is an icon, friend and inspiration to so many children and young people. #TaylorSwift #TheLifeofaShowGirl #FantasticallyGreatWomen #Kidsnonfictionbooks

⭐️This week the new ten year anniversary editions of Fantastically Great Women are published!⭐️ Let me take you back to the book launch in 2016 … Just think, this immensely cute little suffragette is in high school now! Crazy to think lots of readers have now grown up with these books 💜 I finished off the book while pregnant with my son. He’d obviously now be delighted to know he wore this VOTES FOR WOMEN baby grow to the book launch! Pictured here are some absolutely super star lovely librarians who continue to support and share my work. (Thank you to ALL the lovely librarians, booksellers, teachers, book reviewers and parents out there for your enthusiasm over the years!) To all the young readers (and their grown ups) – I made these books for you! YOU are fantastically great and deserve to know about these incredible stories of female brilliance and bravery. I’ve had a lot of fun, a lot of late nights and learned so much creating these books. (Stuff that I probably should have already known but didn’t because books about amazing women did not exist when I was a child! Proud that my work has helped to change that. 💜🤍💚) PS: As if there is/was a trend for 2016 posts when I was actually going to post about 2016 anyway! I am like, so ahead of the curve! That’s why I am posted three weeks after the trend.

🌟Special delivery!🌟 Take a sneaky peek inside my advance copies box of TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY editions of Fantastically Great Women! So excited to share the new designs which I’ve been busy working on with @katiejknutton and @emilybally for the big birthday year. I’ve re-drawn every woman featured in the picture books so far for the new layouts, so lovely to revisit old favourites. More on the process or working up the new cover designs in another post! (Everyone needs a new look every decade or so, consider this a new, on trend short bob for 2026!) Available 29th January 2026 #fantasticallygreatwomen #kidsnonfiction #katepankhurst #suffragettes

It was great talking with @kateisdrawing in her studio in @spinningmillstudios @sunnybankmills , she’s a lovely person to spend time with. She’s a children’s author and illustrator. She recently celebrated the 10 year anniversary of her best selling series, ‘Fantastically Great Women’ with @plum_agency . They are wonderfully charming and inspiring books, a perfect gift for my little niece this year!