CHRIS Haughton has been described as one of the most exciting voices in children's literature. But upon closer examination, the Dublin-born author's career and to-do list is as colourful as the picture books he writes and illustrates.
Haughton's first book, A Bit Lost (2010) has been translated into 23 languages and won 10 awards in eight countries. Oh No George, Shh! We Have a Plan and Goodnight Everyone have become bestsellers. He has also delighted young audiences, with his app Hat Monkey.
Meanwhile, he recently finished creating visuals for the virtual reality children’s app Little Earth, which Haughton, who is passionate about environmental sustainability, hopes will help children visualise, understand and immerse themselves within the changing seasons and different animals of our planet, with an underlying message to protect it from further harm.
"It was a bit of an experiment working in this new medium. Users can experience the solar system and see how the Earth turns and speed up the spinning of the Earth," explains Haughton, who is currently tackling his biggest project to date – a non-fiction book aimed at teenagers.
"It's called The History of Information and is about communication, media and the internet. It's become that big, we may be splitting it into three books. As well as illustrations, it's got a lot of words. That's a very different challenge for me."
A graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, his job credits include a waiter in San Francisco, a handyman in London's Paddington train station, an English teacher and newspaper illustrator in Hong Kong, and an art teacher in India.
While living in Nepal Chris got interested in doing work with Fair Trade and set up NODE, a fair trade social business with Nepalese entrepreneur Akshay Sthapit, where he designs rugs for disadvantaged adults in Nepal to make and sell – something he still does to this day.
Upon returning to London, he worked in animation and as a designer for People Tree, the fair trade fashion pioneer and online garment retailer, before turning his hand to children's illustration.
"As an illustrator you are always collaborating with others, such as a writer, advertising team or interior designer. I loved telling stories through my illustrations and since college I always had a dream to do my own picture book, but I wasn't very confident in my writing skills."
However, what Haughton quickly discovered with his picture books is that less was more and that the picture did indeed tell the story.
"This is the thing. I felt very uncomfortable writing words and in my first book, A Bit Lost, I struggled with writing a description, but realised all I needed to write was "Uh-oh!" when the owl feel out of the tree.
"The very young children may not have a such grasp on language, but they know what Uh Oh is. That got right to the core and engaged the children. So what I thought was my failing in writing actually turned out to my advantage."
Another distinctive feature of Haughton's books is his use of non-realistic, bold colouring for the animals, characters and habitat in his stories.
"In all my books, I use colour to tell the story, highlight the most important aspect and heighten the drama," he explains.
His readers may be under five, but Haughton believes the secret of his success is that he makes them page turners.
"When planning my books, what I love thinking about is the before and after page turn. There has to be that anticipation and drama as you turn the page. With Shh! We Have a Plan, they are lining up to catch the bird and are poised with the net and looks like they are going to catch him this time, and you turn the page and you see the bird is flying off as they miss again," he laughs.
An entertaining tale of three hapless hunters being bamboozled by birds, this funny, engaging and poignant tale won the Assocation of Illustrators award for best Children's Book in 2014 and has been translated to the stage by Northern Ireland children's theatre company Cahoots NI.
Haughton was very much involved in the process, working alongside Cahoots NI director Paul Bosco McEneaney and London-based animation studio Animade to produce beautifully animated sequences and special effects which are projected on to the back wall of the stage, enabling the actors to interact with the shapes and characters as part of the play.
The theatrical production of Shh! We Have a Plan is non-verbal, with beautiful lighting, soundscapes by Garth McConaghie, puppetry, magic and special effects.
Local families are invited to see the show this Christmas at Belfast's Crescent Arts Centre, before Cahoots NI take it on tour to the USA and China in 2018.
Haughton was delighted to see his work come to life, saying he was "blown away" by the production. He believes its message of discovering that freedom and kindness are more important than getting what you want at any cost, is a perfect pre-Christmas message, amid the frenzy of commercialism.
"I'm proud of the moral of kindness in this one. Hopefully it can have some kind of ripple effect this Christmas."
:: Shh! We have a Plan runs at Belfast's Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, from the December 13-24. Crescentarts.org
