Craig Phillips' scary tales from the deep, dark woods

His graphic novel of folktales has won Craig Phillips the 2018 Russell Clark Illustration Award. The Taupo-based illustrator's take on traditional scary stories, which he both illustrated and wrote, took out the hotly contested prize at the 2018 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults. The stories include some well known characters like Snow White and Rose Red, Finn McCool and Thor, but many others will be new to 21st century readers. Craig's changed the stories so there's a 50-50 gender split and so children are always the heroes, but believes he's true to the spirit of the original tales. Lynn Freeman talks to Craig Phillips about Giants, Trolls, Witches, Beasts - Ten Tales from the Deep, Dark Woods - published by Allen and Unwin.