As the finale to our Libraries in the Picture feature for Libraries Week, we are delighted to welcome illustrator Yu Rong to the blog.  Yu Rong is a great friend to libraries, she created the Youth Libraries Group logo and was the cover-artist for the inaugural issue of Pen & Inc magazine.  Yu Rong's work is a fusion of traditional Chinese papercut and pencil sketches creating a distinctive and fresh style.  Yu Rong has been awarded the Golden Apple by the Biennial of Illustrations, Bratislava for Free as a Bird in 2013.  She has illustrated Matt Goodfellow's Shu Lin's Grandpa which will publish with Otter-Barry Books in 2021.

Please can you introduce yourself?

My name is Yu Rong and I am an illustrator whose work grows out of traditional Chinese folk art form of papercut.  Traditionally papercut has very strict limitations, it is flat and two-dimensional.  When I was a student, publishers and my course-leaders were impressed by these techniques.  I felt encouraged by this and wanted to experiment to find ways that I’m less limited by the method of papercut.  I am the type of person who likes to accept challenges so I wanted to play and find ways to overcome the barriers with papercut.  I use different papers, experimented with limited colours and different types of material – from Chinese rice paper which is only red and blue, to tissue paper available in all sorts of colours.  I love to experiment with colours and textures.

The way paper is cut can make it difficult to show features and body language, so I see it as being like a stage-play.  My white paper is the stage and the paper is the puppets that I move around to form the drama. 

When I started out, I was very passive, but I have turned papercut into a good friend and spent a lot of time thinking about how to be able to portray what I want.  Now when I think about what I want to show, I have good ideas of how best to do this.

This year’s Libraries Week is themed around books and reading, can you tell us about some of the books you enjoyed as a child and why these connected with you?

I grew up in China and in my childhood we didn’t have many story books that were specifically for children.  My mother was a headteacher in a primary school and there we had some memorable fairy-tales from overseas like The Little Match Girl and The Little Mermaid.  We also had traditional Chinese stories like Hua Mulan.  There were also little booklets which told stories by Chinese authors and which were illustrated.  They were not much like picture books nowadays. 

We had special sort of comic books which were the size of postcards and featured rectangular illustrations and text underneath.  They were useful in helping children to learn and often told traditional tales like The Monkey King.  Maybe there is a link between these and why I’m so interested and fascinated by picturebooks.

What do you feel is important about libraries?

Having a library for children to read in is amazing!  The library is not only for books, it’s a special world for children to be in and find all manner of different stories and enter new worlds!  Even a corner with children’s books in is a treasure trove and I love that in waiting rooms there are little places where children can pass the time and explore and imagine!

Can you share details of one of your favourite libraries – this could be a school library or a public library?

The library I choose is at the Peace Primary School in Shenzhen.  It is a very innovative school in China.  What I liked about the library was the way they had little corners where children could sit and cuddle themselves up, losing themselves in books.  The space was comforting, relaxing and inspiring.  It was a really fun place to be and a hideaway too.  One of the things I love about libraries is the way they have different sections for different ages - even toddlers can be like adults making their own choices about where they want to be and the stories they love the most!

Can you tell us anything about your next book?

I’ve just finished illustrating a book called The Lost Child.  It has a very simple text ‘I am a lost child’.  It’s a story about a subject that happens to everybody.  We all get lost very easily and sometimes we just need a moment to find ourselves.  One of the things I loved about working on the book was the chance I had to add a special baby book, a rainbow book, that has a one-tone paper cut for every colour of the rainbow.  The baby book has no words, it just shows an imaginative journey and then we come back to reality.  I still love to experiment and challenge myself as an illustrator!

My next book is going to be around the story of Turandot the opera.  I am excited to work on the stage design and costume design.  The story relates to China but was made outside China so it gives me a good chance to experiment again.  I always feel I need to love the process of what I am doing.  My job is about finding what is best for me, what is best for the author and what is best for the story, I experiment and play to achieve this and there is a joy and an energy in that!

Photos 1-4 Copyright Jake Hope, 2019

Image One shows Yu Rong creating a very special library doodle on the walls of the Peace School Library where it can be enjoyed by children and staff alike!  

 Image Two shows Yu Rung with author Qin Wenjun enacting I am Hua Mulan at the Shanghai Book Fair during a celebration of its publication.

Image Three shows children at the Peace School Library dancing and reciting I am Hua Mulan in traditional dress during a visit by Yu Rong.

Image Four shows the outside of the Peace School Library.

Image Five shows the brilliant logo Yu Rong created for the Youth Libraries Group.

A big thank you to Yu Rong for the interview, for the brilliant support that she offers to libraries and for creating the Youth Libraries Group logo!