JENNY KEMPE

London-based author and illustrator specialising in humour and gift-books.

Jenny Kempe (b.1975) grew up in Sweden where she studied English and Philosophy at Lund University and worked as freelance writer and columnist for various newspapers. After pursuing a publishing career in Copenhagen and London, she turned to writing and drawing full-time in 2008.

Jenny Kempe’s books have sold over half a million copies and been translated to 19 different languages, including Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Finnish, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Dutch, Romanian,  Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Faroese.

ART

Jenny’s style is characterised by amusing line-drawings that focus on mood and rapport between characters. She works predominantly with pencil and ink on paper. After scanning, she runs the artwork through a digital editing program adding backgrounds or just a splash of colour.

BOOKS

Jenny both writes and illustrates her books. There is no set way how they come about: words and images tend to evolve together. Once she has a basic draft, she creates the lay-out and the covers. Sometimes it as quick and easy as it looks. More often, it’s a lengthy process of edits and re-edits. Once done, it’s submitted to the publishers. With a bit of luck, they will like it enough to publish!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. 1. “Just a Love Story” (2009)
      

   2. “Amazing Love” (2009)
      

   3. “Thank you Mum” (May 2010)
      

   4. “My Dad, My Hero” (May 2010)
      

   5. “Best Friends” (May 2010)
      

   6. “I’ve Got a Crush on You” (May 2010)
      

   7. “Stay Calm” (May 2010)
      

   8. “Have a Perfect Day” (May 2010)
      

   9. “The Little Book of Broken Hearts” (Dec 2010)
      

   10. “Happy Birthday” (June 2011)
       

   11. “My Sister” (June 2011)
       

   12. “Beautiful Baby” (2012)
       

   13. “Beautiful Daughter” (2012)
       

   14. “The Little Book of Divas” (2013)