Hansel and Gretel: A Nightmare in Eight Scenes by Simon Armitage & Clive Hicks-Jenkins (standard cloth-bound edition)

Winner of the 2020 V&A Illustration Award

Hansel and Gretel - a Nightmare in Eight Scenes is a beautiful clothbound hardback book by poet laureate Simon Armitage in collaboration with artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins.

Clive Hicks-Jenkins’ work for Hansel & Gretel won the 2020 V&A Illustration Award for Book Illustration.

Armitage’s extended (and not child-friendly) narrative poem uses the well-known framework of the Brothers Grimm tale but gives us a new contemporary interpretation and focus. This is a darker, glittering Hansel & Gretel fairy story for the 21st century, of refugees, bombed villages, homelessness, a landscape where nothing is quite as it seems, but of humanity, humour and hope too. 

The powerful story is illustrated by the superb Hicks-Jenkins. His compelling Hansel & Gretel characters have appeared as prints and as a toy theatre for Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop. They are re-imagined here using the imagery of the toy box of mid-century wooden puppets, villages and building blocks in creating a unique, contemporary fairytale landscape.

This beautiful book was published in 2019 by Design for Today, If you'd like to examine it in person please visit the bookshop on the 2nd floor of Salts Mill. 

We also have signed, numbered limited editions of this book (edition of 100), signed by both authors with 2 signed Hicks-Jenkins screenprints, for sale on this site and in the real world. Search 'Hansel and Gretel' or come and view it at Salts.  

Dimensions of book: 23.5 x 23.5 cm

104 pages / cloth bound Hardcover / printed on 170gsm Magno Natural