Why do some children's stories stay with us? With Qin Leng

With streaming platforms favouring familiar formats, children’s shows risk becoming more alike. More predictable. And more forgettable. In this episode of Raising Questions, acclaimed children’s book author and illustrator Qin Leng discusses why personal storytelling, picture books, imagination and originality matter.

Qin Leng reflects on her experiences creating children’s stories, why a creator’s personal perspective can give stories a distinctive emotional and imaginative life, and what makes illustrated books so valuable for young children. The conversation also considers her concerns about increasingly similar visual styles and story formulas in children’s media, and what may be lost when creators follow what is already successful.

Qin Leng is a Toronto-based author and illustrator whose work includes more than 40 children’s books. After beginning her career in animation, she moved into children’s book illustration and has since illustrated award-winning titles including Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin and Clover, as well as writing and illustrating her own books, I Am Small and Fantastic Lou: Little Comics from Real Life.

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