A free Gruffalo and Julia Donaldson exhibition is coming to Greater Manchester

A free Gruffalo exhibition is coming to Greater Manchester this summer.

The new attraction will open at The Lowry arts centre, Salford, right in time for the school holidays in July — and will run for the rest of the year.

It will celebrate the popular children’s books including the Gruffalo, Zog, Stick Man and Room on the Broom created by author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler.

Visitors will get the chance to have a peek into the original workings of their award-winning partnership — which has spawned some of the best-loved characters in fiction.

Entitled Julia and Axel – Thirty Years of Favourite Stories, the creative showcase will feature a special ‘storybook room’, snippets from the animated versions of the likes of The Gruffalo, Zog and Snail and the Whale — as well as an exploration of how Julia and Axel have worked together to create their iconic works.

From Saturday July 22nd, this free family-friendly exhibition will feature several of Julia Donaldson’s personal writing notebooks; containing the very first ideas and creative thinking behind her picture book stories. 

These will be shown alongside Axel Scheffler’s artwork, showing the process of his illustrations from sketches and works in progress, to full page final illustrations that readers are familiar with seeing in the finished books.

Throughout the exhibition there will be lots of fun opportunities for children to be creative as they are guided to write their own stories, draw pictures, dress up, and play fun games inspired by the books.

Julia Donaldson says: “I am delighted that we are working in partnership with The Lowry on this exhibition and that they are celebrating 30 years of Axel and me working together.

“It is exciting to be able to share some ‘behind the scenes’ secrets with our young readers and to show what happens before a finished book is in their hands.

“I hope that it will help them to feel creative and to start writing and illustrating their own stories, so that we have new picture-book creators in the future.”

Axel Scheffler says: “I find it hard to believe that it is 30 years since Julia Donaldson and I did our first picture book together with A Squash and a Squeeze. So much has happened since then and many children have now enjoyed our stories over the years.

“I am very pleased that The Lowry is hosting this special celebratory exhibition and that it will give families the chance to discover more about my illustrations and Julia’s writing.”

Michael Simpson, Director of Visual Arts at The Lowry, says: “This is a unique celebration of the creative partnership of Julia and Axel, whose stories and pictures are loved by children and grown-ups alike.

“We want every family to think of The Lowry as the place to go for a great day out.”

Julia and Axel – Thirty Years of Favourite Stories will be on at The Lowry from Saturday July 22nd 2023 to Monday January 1st 2024.