Laila Ekboir

I am a freelance London based author-illustrator who has worked professionally since 2017 on a broad range of illustration projects. I’ve worked with small, independent clients and larger corporations, with experienced Art Directors and first-time commissioners. In all things related to books, I am represented by Lydia Silver at Darley Anderson Illustration Agency.

I have always believed passionately in the power of storytelling. In 2010, I graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in English Literature. Stories make the world go round, whether they convince you to buy a product or whether they drive social change. It’s the story we connect to. But when I graduated from USC, I didn’t know how to carry a story forward. I could write poetry, but plot and dialogue felt impossible. It wasn’t until I returned to Argentina and took an illustration workshop that everything clicked and I became a storyteller. It’s my firm belief that in an increasingly visual world, illustrated stories have the power to touch people. Whether I’m working on a sequence or a single image, my images always tell a story.

In 2021, I left Buenos Aires to pursue a Master’s degree in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. The MA was integral in shaping my process and approach to visual storytelling. Towards the end of the MA I developed “We Are Like Birds” based on my experiences as a Third Culture Kid (a TCK is someone who has spent a significant part of their formative years outside their homeland). This eventually became my debut picturebook, published by Kumusha Books of HarperCollins.

Being a TCK has shaped my practice as much as my person. I am drawn to themes of home, memory, belonging, cultural expressions, and identity. I love colour, details, and textures. I delight in quirky characters and funny stories as much as I do in the challenge of tackling difficult or complicated subject matter.

I primarily use traditional media, mixing different materials and I enjoy experimenting with new ones all the time. I love printmaking and bring it into my practice whenever possible (less often than I would like).

If you have any questions, would like to chat, or if there’s a project you’d like me to be a part of, don’t be a stranger! Click on the link bellow or reach out ekboir@gmail.com