For about two weeks in July this year, Emila travelled across Britain in an epic trail to follow the footsteps of her favourite children's authors. — Photos: EMILA YUSOF
Earlier this year, Emila Yusof got the chance to realise a long-standing dream: to trace the roots of the childhood stories that inspired her both as a reader and an author-illustrator.
For about two weeks in July, the peak of British summer (or as summer as it gets there), Emila traversed between charming villages in the countryside and vibrant cities that were home to some of the greatest figures in British children’s literature, such as Roald Dahl, Beatrix Potter, J.M. Barrie and Lewis Carroll.
“I’ve long admired British children’s literature and illustration, and I wanted to trace the roots of the stories that inspired me as I was growing up. I had already visited places linked to children’s books in other countries, and Britain felt like the natural next chapter,” says Emila, 56, in a recent interview.
In Britain, Emila stepped into Roald Dahl’s world, capturing it in a sketch.
Since 2007, she has built a career as a picture book illustrator, writer and fine artist, creating over 60 works in traditional and digital media and earning awards at home and abroad.
Her recent trip to Britain became a balancing act – part fan pilgrimage, part artistic journey, part research mission.
It is also part of a larger project for the Selangor-based author, called Menjejak Sastera Kanak-Kanak Dunia, or Tracking Children’s Literature Around The World, where she follows the footsteps of international authors and illustrators.
Since 2017, Emila has also been creating journals of the places she’s travelled to, including Japan, Italy, Germany, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Switzerland, Slovakia, China and Austria.
“Each one has been a way to record not just where I went, but what I felt and noticed along the way,” she says.
And it’s no different for this trip: Emila produced a journal of her literary journey with the sketches she made during the trip and has even printed limited edition physical copies, which are available for purchase.
Following the trail
Emila’s adventure started at Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire, England, a small village just over an hour’s drive from London, where the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre is located. The museum features galleries chronicling Dahl’s life, from boyhood to adulthood, as well as his writing career. You can even peek into his writing hut.
The author of children’s classics such as Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Matilda and James And The Giant Peach, Dahl lived and wrote in Gipsy House in Great Missenden for 36 years, leading up to his death in 1990.
She then ventured to Near Sawrey in Cumbria to visit Beatrix Potter’s house and garden, known as Hill Top. The quaint farmhouse was Emila’s favourite stop along the trail. Potter was known for creating beloved animal characters such as Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-Duck.
Emila’s illustration of Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top, from the journal.
“It was incredibly moving to see the exact settings from her books still preserved. The most surprising discovery was how vibrantly real landscapes shaped the stories. Seeing places like Derwentwater (depicted in many of Potter’s books and illustrations) or the gardens that Jemima waddled through made me realise how embedded ‘place’ really is in storytelling,” says Emila.
She adds that visiting Potter’s former home felt almost like visiting a mentor – “Her illustrations, storytelling, and life as an artist deeply resonate with me.”
Emila then continued north to Edinburgh in Scotland, where she visited the Colinton Tunnel mural, a former Victorian railway tunnel that was revitalised by the local community. At its core is the short poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, From A Railway Carriage. She also dropped by the Writers’ Museum, which presents the lives of renowned Scottish writers Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson.
A mural of Robert Louis Stevenson at Colinton Tunnel in Scotland.
Next on the trail was Kirriemuir, some 130km north of Edinburgh in Angus county. The town is known as the birthplace of Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie, where visitors can see Barrie’s childhood home, the Peter Pan statue and Barrie’s grave.
Emila then returned to England, heading to Oxford to follow a trail focusing on Lewis Carroll and his most iconic work, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. Emila went to Alice’s Shop (the real life shop that Alice visits in Alice Through The Looking Glass), The Story Museum, Christ Church College, and Weston Library – all in a single day.
“I had to make a choice between following Lewis Carroll’s world or J.R.R. Tolkien’s, and I chose Carroll because I had limited time,” says Emila.
An entry from Emila’s journal, blending notes and artwork.
The last stop on Emila’s trail was London, where she went to Ninety Drawings, an exhibition showcasing children’s writer and illustrator Quentin Blake’s artworks. Blake’s most popular works were the unique illustrations he did for Roald Dahl’s books.
More to come
So, would Emila do this trip again? “Absolutely!” she says.
“I still have many places left to check off my bucket list. Connecting books to their real-world origins deepens the stories and shifts how you see them. I’d definitely recommend this itinerary to fellow book lovers, especially lovers of children’s literature. Just be ready to linger; each stop is rich enough to invite a longer stay.
“And since I still missed a few places – the C.S. Lewis trail in Belfast, Tenniel and Rackham at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the new Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, to name a few – I already know there’s another trip to Britain waiting in the future,” she says.
Emila envisions her journey extending beyond Britain, tracing the world’s children’s literature across cultures and borders, following the trails of Felix Salten (Bambi) and Ludwig Bemelmans (Madeline) in Austria; Astrid Lindgren (Pippi Longstocking) and Selma Lagerlof (The Wonderful Adventures Of Nils) in Sweden; Carlo Collodi (Pinocchio) and Giovanni Francesco (Puss In Boots) in Italy; as well as Aesop’s Fables in Greece.
Instagram: @emilayusof
