\n<\/p>\n
Dame Jacqueline Wilson, the beloved author, has just released her latest adult novel<\/a>, Picture Imperfect, a sequel to the 1999 hit Illustrated Mum. The new book revisits Dolphin, the character from the original story, who is now 33 years old.<\/p>\n Readers are taken on a journey through Dolphin’s life, discovering how it has changed and yet remained remarkably similar in some ways. To mark the occasion, Dani Harmer<\/a> (better known as Tracy Beaker!) and Dame Jacqueline<\/a> held a conversation at HOME Theatre in Manchester.<\/p>\n During the event, Harmer asked numerous questions about the new release, leaving many authors in the audience stunned by one of Jacqueline’s responses.<\/p>\n The acclaimed author confessed that she had dreamt of becoming a writer since her primary school days. However, coming from a “council estate background,” her parents thought this might be an unattainable dream.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n At the age of 17, Wilson moved to Scotland alone, armed only with her aspiration to become a writer. She landed a role as a junior journalist at Jackie Magazine, where she honed her writing skills.<\/p>\n She reminisced that back then, all you needed was a “bit of cheek” to get a chance to be a journalist, whereas today, you “need a degree”.<\/p>\n This early experience is why she claims she “never gets writer’s block,” jesting that if you’re a journalist and can’t write stories, you’d be “gone”.<\/p>\n Expressing gratitude for her initial career as a journalist, she stated that it equipped her with the ability to write effortlessly, never worrying that she’ll run out of things to say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She humorously claimed to have been “possessed” by her characters during the writing process, thinking as they would.<\/p>\n At the event, attentive attendees picked up on a hint from Jacqueline Wilson that she and Tracy Beaker illustrator Nick Sharratt might team up again in the future.<\/p>\n Devoted followers of Jacqueline will have noticed that Nick no longer illustrates her books, and her two adult novels have entirely stopped featuring person-centric artwork.<\/p>\n She clarified that during the pandemic, everyone had to “please themselves”, taking care of their own well-being and livelihoods, which led to a shift in Nick’s priorities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She expressed her “devastation,” but understood his need to concentrate on his own projects, including illustrating his own children’s books, despite their 30-year collaboration.<\/p>\n However, an idea sparked “on the spot” at the event could suggest a reunion between our childhood favourites is nearer than we anticipate.<\/p>\n In Picture Imperfect, Jacqueline painstakingly describes some of the tattoos Dolphin has created for people. She suggested that Nick could bring some of these designs to life, including dragons.<\/p>\n And for those with sharp recollections, The Illustrated Mum featured an image of Marigold and all her tattoos towards the end of the book, illustrated by none other than Nick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n