I’ve been thinking about the libraries in my life and have just realised that they have played a more important role than I thought. The first library I remember was mine! I went to boarding school and the library mostly had very old books. I realised that if I collected all the boy’s own books together, we’d have a library of contemporary books. For a short while I was the master of a shelf of books which soon disappeared but were eventually returned to the rightful owners. I hadn’t worked out a ticketing system!

School libraries were my refuge. For some reason the bullies rarely went there. There was peace and quiet and often a comfy armchair available. I think most of the books were donated odds and ends that parents were chucking out – 007, Modesty Blaize and Dennis Wheatley come to mind. I do remember finding spending hours leafing through Britannica and heavy tomes on psychology and philosophy. I’m sure some of it made sense.

In my later teens, I would spend my Saturday afternoons in Bedford Library, snuggled up with Scientific American marvelling at all the new stuff they were finding out. The Day I left school, I discovered the fiction shelves – Wow! I spent a long time around the Ws. Coli Wilson blew my mind as did Wodehouse and I think a Woodhouse too – my first Police Procedural. And all those art books and how to books. Sometimes I think I only really begun to learn stuff once I’d left school.

Peterborough Library saw me through some dark days after my Father died, when I was Twenty. Another refuge and a very helpful Librarian who kept fining interesting how to art books for me. I built up my portfolio all on my own to be able to get to college with those books.

And the College Library at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology – Well! It had a wonderful collection of Picture Books. That was my introduction to a whole new world and literally and Damascene conversion. That’s where I first came across Where the Wild Things Are and that was the moment I knew what I would do with my life. I remember reading Raymond Brigg’s The Snowman there, one November evening. Time stood still and all sounds disappeared as I was sucked into the story. I remember being quite disorientated at the end. Perhaps Libraries should have agony aunts on hand to counsel distressed readers!

And Cambridge City Library where, again, I would spend Saturday afternoons reading Campaign magazine, imagining a possible glittering future in advertising.

Then I went to Birmingham to be be a rock star! Actually the rock and roll business can be really boring at times. So, once again, thank you Birmingham City Library for providing a place of refuge and inspiration. So Too Machynlleth Library, where I went to put myself back together after the Music thing broke down rather badly! That’s where I discovered people who ring page 13 to remind them that they’ve already read the book. police procedurals and Angela Carter kept me reasonably sane as I picked myself up and began my career as an illustrator in earnest.

And Coleford Library, where I live now. Trips with the kids to borrow armfuls of picture books, fuel for those wonderful cosy bedtimes, long gone now.

And there have been Librarians too, that have changed my life. The wonderful Anne Marley in Winchester, patiently listened to me ranting about the difference between left and right brain thinking. The next day she slipped me a post it note with the words, Tony Buzan and the title of one of his mind-mapping books written on it. That book quite blew my mind – it changed the way I write and plan completely. It changed the way I do most things to tell the truth. It introduced me to the concept of self-help books, that I’d never knew were there before. Goodness – the stuff I’ve learned since!

So please don’t close down libraries. They are a refuge and source of inspiration. Don’t let the bullies in and don’t let them take over.