Why did you start writing and illustrating children’s books?
Knife and Packer loved developing crazy characters – and children’s books were the perfect place to put them.
Where did you grow up?
We both spent most of our childhood’s in London – but on different sides of the river. Knife in South London and Packer in North London.
Where do your names come from?
‘Packer’ is Jem’s real surname and ‘Knife’ is a nickname that Duncan got when he worked in a bookshop. He has a ‘Mac’ in his surname and there is a famous Frank Sinatra song called ‘Mac the Knife’ – your parents may know it!
What are your hobbies?
Knife is happiest playing with his toy soldiers, whilst Packer loves fly fishing.
When and how did you meet?
We first met in 1993 through a mutual friend. We rapidly discovered we shared the same sense of humour and soon started working together.
What was the first work you did together?
At first we did cartoons and cartoon strips for newspapers and magazines including The Guardian and The Sunday Times . In fact we still do and can be seen in Private Eye every issue.
What’s it like working with someone else?
Working as a team is quite unusual as most authors and illustrators work separately, with the illustrator brought in to provide pictures once the book has been written. Knife and Packer develop all the characters, stories and designs together – it’s much more fun than being alone!
How often do you see each other?
Unless we have a major deadline we meet up every couple of days, but mostly email ideas and sketches backwards and forwards.
Do you like doing author visits?
We love meeting our readers and have done hundreds of events in schools, libraries, bookshops and festivals over the years
Why did you start writing and illustrating children’s books?
Knife and Packer loved developing crazy characters – and children’s books were the perfect place to put them.
Where do you live?
We live in London, at different ends of the borough of Hackney.
What were your favourite books as kids, did you always want to write and illustrate books?
Knife loved to draw, taking inspiration from Ronald Searle, The Dandy and Beano. Meanwhile in North London, Jem loved reading, enjoying everything from Dr Brainstorm to Willard Price and Asterix to Tintin.
Have you had other jobs?
Knife used to work in an antique bookshop, doing cartoons in his spare time and Packer performed stand-up comedy and wrote comedy sketches for TV and radio.
What was your first book?
Knife and Packer’s first book was all about teachers, Teachers: the Naked Truth (published in 2001)
How many books have you written?
Since then we have written and illustrated over 30 books.
Where do you work?
Knife works in a studio the size of a broom cupboard and Packer has a tiny laptop and can be found in libraries, cafes, in fact anywhere where he can get a bit of space.
Have your books appeared in different languages?
We love seeing our books in foreign languages, our books have been translated into lots of languages, including Estonian, Thai, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish and Korean.