Astred Hicks
Astred Hicks is a publishing triple threat. She is a best-selling illustrator, highly awarded book designer and emerging author who has worked for Australian and international publishing houses with a particular focus on mid-grade fiction and children’s non-fiction. Most recently, she was awarded the Honour Book in the 2023 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards for Evie and Rhino, she won the Best Designed Children’s Book award in the Australian Book Design Awards for No Words and was shortlisted for the 2022 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards in Children’s Fiction for Exit Through the Gift Shop.
Astred is excited about noticing the world around her. Through her work in illustration, writing and speaking engagements, she strives to inspire wonder in young people by sharing her observations of the mini-worlds surrounding us, from the natural world to the wabi/sabi nature of street textures.
She regularly visits primary and secondary schools to share the creative processes of visual communication through:
- book design
- typography
- illustration
- design thinking
- creative noticing
2025 will be an exciting year for Astred as she celebrates her children’s non-fiction author-illustrator debut with This Bird, Spotting Birds that Share Our Urban Spaces (CSIRO publishing), which will be published in June. Meanwhile, her other fully illustrated children’s non-fiction book, Mind-Controlling Bugs (Hardie Grant Books), written by Aidan Doyle, will be published in February.
Testimonials
Astred Hicks has recently delivered a guest lecture to a group of students in the Master of Publishing program, for the second year in the row. Her expertise, passion, and ability to engage and inspire the students were truly remarkable. Her love for books and design was contagious, which created a positive and inspiring atmosphere in the classroom. Astred encouraged students to embrace creativity, think outside the box, and push the boundaries of traditional book cover design and illustration. Her genuine belief in the power of visual storytelling was evident, and it left an indelible impression on all the students. I wholeheartedly recommend Astred to anyone seeking to gain a deep understanding of book design and illustration, and be inspired to create visually captivating and impactful publications.
Sydney University - May 2023Astred's presentation was excellent- content was beautifully presented and thorough. Everyone commented on the high standard and learnt some great things from Astred
The Cardboard Box Illustrators - April 2023We did fun designing and i prefer design over writing. She was engaging and I had a good time.
The workshop I enjoyed the most was the workshop run by Astred Hicks. This is because the content explored in her presentation was really interesting and gave an insight into book design. I thought exploring book design was interesting because you don't normally get to hear about how book covers are designed, and what goes into designing them.
Cherrybrook Literary Festival - November 2022
Exit Through The Gift Shop
Before the Beginning
Hive
You Can Change the World
Shout Out to the Girls
Man in the Water
Lead The Way
Where We Begin
This One is Ours
The Year the Maps Changed
Macmillan Australian Primary Dictionary
Ocean Animals
A Hollow is a Home
New South Wales
Speaker type
- Author
- Illustrator / Designer
- Virtual visits
Links
