Shrewsbury illustrator’s ‘Beowulf’ art wins Book of the Year prize

A Shrewsbury-based illustrator has won a major national award.

Alice Cao was awarded a prestigious national Book of the Year prize thanks to her illustrations for a limited-edition version of the Anglo‑Saxon epic Beowulf.

Alice, who studied on the BA (Hons) in Illustration course at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge, was part of the team that received the honour at the annual British Book Design & Production Awards.

Beowulf: The Morris Edition (Books Illustrated) pays homage to the version by celebrated artist, designer, poet and writer William Morris and is limited to just 308 copies, replicating the original print run from 1895.

Combining traditional techniques with Alice’s illustrations, the book champions British craftsmanship, including paper suppliers, leathermakers and printers, and was bound by Ludlow Bookbinders in Shropshire.

The book, which also won the Excellence in Print Production category at the awards ceremony in London, was letterpress printed, a process now classified as endangered in the UK.

Alice, who has lived and worked in Shrewsbury since graduating from ARU in 2019, said: “Since it’s not just Beowulf, it’s Beowulf as translated by William Morris, from the start we knew we wanted the illustrations to celebrate both this Anglo-Saxon Viking tale, and pay homage to Morris and his Kelmscott Press, which published the original.

“At the same time we also wanted to make something distinctively new and fresh. My way of navigating all these goals was to do a lot of research to keep as much of the detail as historical as possible.”

Alice has produced illustrations for a diverse range of work, ranging from the New York Times bestselling novel The Everlasting, to the animated children’s TV programme Hey Duggee, but admits her current “lady knight phase” is to thank for securing the Beowulf project.

She added: “The first project I did with Books Illustrated was illustrating their 20th anniversary fine press edition of Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke. That job went very well and they wanted to work with me again, but this time they know how I work better and wanted to do something that played more to my strengths.

“I was and still am in my ‘lady knight phase’, and in my free time was drawing a lot of armoured women engaging in battles! Based on those, they decided William Morris’ Beowulf translation would be the perfect fit for our next adventure together. Those drawings also got me the job of doing the interior illustrations for Alix E. Harrow’s The Everlasting, which alongside Beowulf, is amongst my favourite jobs to date.

“Winning this award feels quite surreal. I would probably have worn a more practical outfit had I thought I’d have to walk up the stage at any point, but I didn’t!”

The judges of the British Book Design & Production Awards said: “For its small format, this book punches well above its weight.

“The newly commissioned illustrations chime perfectly with the traditional elements, and the quarterbound finish makes this a book to treasure for years.

“With traditional creative and artisanal activities under pressure like never before, and with letterpress printing classified as endangered in the UK by the Heritage Crafts Association, this book is a timely reminder of the importance and beauty of hand-printed works.”