{{Short description|Printmaker and illustrator (born 1960)}} {{use British English|date=August 2024}} {{use dmy dates|date=August 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1960|6}} | birth_place = Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England | education = Leicester Polytechnic | alma_mater = Nottingham Polytechnic | occupation = {{Plainlist| * Printmaker * Illustrator }} | awards = | website = {{URL|angelaharding.co.uk}} }} '''Angela Harding''' (born June 1960) is an English wildlife printmaker and illustrator. She has illustrated her own books and those of other authors, and has designed many book covers.
== Early life and education ==
Angela Harding was born in June 1960, in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. the middle of three daughters to Stephen and Joan Harding. Her father was a headteacher and her mother taught pottery. All three sisters went to art college. She was educated at the Roman Catholic girls' school St Dominic's Grammar School in Stoke.<ref name="DID"/>
Harding studied Fine Art at Leicester Polytechnic, where she achieved a first class degree.<ref name="Church Street Gallery"/><ref name="DID"/> She then took a master's degree in Fine Art at Nottingham Polytechnic.<ref name="Church Street Gallery">{{cite web |title=Artists: Angela Harding |url=https://www.churchstreetgallery.co.uk/angela-harding |publisher=Church Street Gallery |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref>
==Career==
[[File:Puffins on the cliffs by The Holms - geograph.org.uk - 1994285.jpg|thumb|Harding makes sketches in the field, often by the sea such as in Fair Isle.]]
After leaving university, Harding rode a bicycle around Britain and travelled on a Magic Bus from London to Athens, a trip funded by the sale of work from her graduation show. She then spent 20 years working in the art world, including teaching and consultancy.<ref name="DID"/>
She works from her home as a wildlife printmaker and illustrator. She makes sketches in the field, developing these into print designs in her studio.<ref name="About">{{cite web |last=Harding |first=Angela |title=About Me |url=http://www.angelaharding.co.uk/pages/about-me |publisher=Angela Harding |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> Her work frequently combines drawings of places in Britain that she has visited with motifs of birds or animals.<ref name="YSP">{{cite web |title=Angela Harding: Flights of Memory |url=https://ysp.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/angela-harding-flights-of-memory |publisher=Yorkshire Sculpture Park |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> She states that she feels connected to the sea, whether sailing in East Anglia, walking the coast in Cornwall, or cycling in Shetland, especially Fair Isle.<ref name="Coast 2024">{{cite web |title=Meet coastal artist and printmaker Angela Harding |url=https://www.coastmagazine.co.uk/activities/arts-crafts/meet-coastal-artist-and-printmaker-angela-harding/ |publisher=Coast Magazine |access-date=8 August 2025 |date=19 September 2024}}</ref>
Harding has made prints from 1982 onwards in a variety of media including etching and drypoint. More recently she has moved mainly to linocut or vinyl cut and silkscreen printing.<ref name="Old School Gallery"/>
== Major works ==
<!--own books--> Harding's books include the 2021 ''A Year Unfolding: A Printmaker’s View''; the 2022 ''Wild Light''; and the 2024 ''Still Waters & Wild Waves'', for Little, Brown Book Group,<ref name="Waterstones">{{cite web |title=Angela Harding |url=https://www.waterstones.com/author/angela-harding/3911493 |publisher=Waterstones |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> which she worked on during a residency on Fair Isle.<ref>{{cite web |title=Previous Residents |url=https://www.fairislestudio.com/previous-residents |website=Fair Isle Studio |access-date=5 October 2025}}</ref>
In 2025, she published a series of four seasonal books, which include prints previously published elsewhere: ''Spring Unfurled'', ''Summer's Hum'', ''Falling Into Autumn'' and ''Winter's Song''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Spanoudi |first1=Melina |title=Sphere to publish four books with Angela Harding in 2025 |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/sphere-to-publish-four-books-with-angela-harding-in-2025 |access-date=27 August 2025 |work=The Bookseller |date=3 December 2024 |language=En}}</ref>
<!--illustrated--> She has illustrated other authors' books, including a 2024 version of the conservationist Isabella Tree's ''Wilding'' and the poet laureate Simon Armitage's 2024 ''Blossomise''.<ref name="Waterstones"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Morris |first1=Steven |title=Simon Armitage releases spring-themed poetry collection celebrating blossom |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/21/simon-armitage-releases-spring-themed-poetry-collection-blossomise-with-national-trust |access-date=5 October 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=21 March 2024}}</ref>
<!--covers--> Harding has made book cover illustrations for many books,<ref>{{cite web |title=Prints Charming by Angela Harding |url=https://www.pridemagazines.co.uk/rutland/highlights/prints-charming-by-angela-harding/01-2023 |publisher=Rutland Pride Magazine |access-date=8 August 2025 |date=January 2023}}</ref> including Raynor Winn's 2018 nature memoir ''The Salt Path''<ref name="Waterstones"/> and the shepherd James Rebanks' 2020 ''English Pastoral''.<ref name="Coast 2024"/>
<!--prints--> Her prints include ''Blossomise'' and ''Fair Isle Curlews and the South Lighthouse''.<ref name="Old School Gallery">{{cite web |title=Angela Harding |publisher=The Old School Gallery |url=https://theoldschoolgallery.co.uk/product-category/limited-edition-prints/angela-harding/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250808115656/https://theoldschoolgallery.co.uk/product-category/limited-edition-prints/angela-harding/ |archive-date=8 August 2025 |url-status=live |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> <!--''Fair Isle Puffins at the North Lighthouse'', and ''Swans''.--> Her work has appeared on bags, calendars, homeware, jigsaw puzzles, and notebooks.<ref>{{cite web |title=Meet the Author: Angela Harding |url=https://www.theriverside.co.uk/programmes/meet-the-author-angela-harding/ |publisher=The Riverside |access-date=5 October 2025 |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk}}</ref>
== Awards and distinctions ==
Isabella Tree's ''Wilding: How to Bring Wildlife Back, The Illustrated Guide for Children'', for Bloomsbury, illustrated by Harding, was the Children's Non-fiction Book of the Year in the 2025 British Book Awards.<ref>{{cite web |title=Book of the Year - Children's Non-Fiction Winner & Shortlist {{!}} The British Book Awards |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/british-book-awards-content/book-of-the-year-childrens-non-fiction |website=The Bookseller |access-date=27 August 2025 |language=En |date=2025}}</ref>
Two titles illustrated by Harding have been shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation: Melissa Harrison's ''By Rowan and Yew'' for the 2022 award<ref name="cropper2022short">{{cite web |title=James Cropper Wainwright Prize 2022 shortlists announced |url=https://wainwrightprize.com/news/james-cropper-wainwright-prize-2022-shortlists-announced/ |website=Wainwright Prize |publisher=James Cropper plc |access-date=27 August 2025}}</ref> and ''Wilding'' for the 2024 award.<ref name=short2024>{{cite web|url=https://wainwrightprize.com/news/the-2024-wainwright-prize-shortlists-announcement/|access-date=27 August 2025|title=The 2024 Wainwright Prize Shortlists Announcement|publisher=Wainwright Prize|date=15 August 2024}}</ref>
On 2 August 2025, she featured on BBC Radio 4's ''This Natural Life'', interviewed on Fair Isle by Martha Kearney.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |title=This Natural Life: Angela Harding |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002gg7h |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |access-date=8 August 2025}}</ref> On 5 October 2025, she was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's ''Desert Island Discs'', hosted by Lauren Laverne. Her chosen book was Adam Nicolson's ''Bird School'' and her luxury item was a roll of lino prepared for printing and accessorised by glasses of champagne.<ref name="DID">{{cite web |title=Desert Island Discs: Angela Harding, artist |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002kfjb |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |access-date=5 October 2025 |date=5 October 2025}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
Harding has two children by her first husband. After their divorce she married her second husband, Mark.<ref name="DID"/> She lives in Wing, a village in Rutland.<ref name="About"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/property-home/article/angela-harding-i-was-a-geeky-teenager-i-had-bird-posters-on-my-wall-9p8jv0g0l |title=Angela Harding: 'I was a geeky teenager — I had bird posters on my wall' |first=Angela |last=Wintle |date=7 November 2024 |work=The Times |access-date=5 October 2025 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{official website|https://angelaharding.co.uk/}}
* [https://www.thebookseller.com/broadcast/podcasts/nibbies-podcast-robert-macfarlane-emily-sutton-isabella-tree-angela-harding The Magic of Nature in Children’s Books | Robert Macfarlane, Emily Sutton, Isabella Tree, Angela Harding]: Nibbies podcast 1 May 2025 * [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/24/scotland-book-still-waters-wild-waves-angela-harding-fair-isle-shetland Extract from ''Still Waters and Wild Waves''], published in ''The Guardian'' 6 May 2023 * [https://www.toa.st/blogs/magazine/in-the-studio-with-printmaker-angela-harding?country=GB&locale=en In the studio with Angela Harding], interview in ''TOAST'' magazine, 22 October 2023
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Angela}} Category:Living people Category:1960 births Category:21st-century English women artists Category:Alumni of De Montfort University Category:Alumni of Nottingham Trent University Category:Artists from Stoke-on-Trent Category:English printmakers Category:English women illustrators Category:People from Wing, Rutland Category:Wildlife artists Category:Writers from Staffordshire