Artist Profile

Marie-Alice Harel is a French illustrator based in Edinburgh. She started her career as a Geosciences PhD and researcher before taking up illustration full-time in 2016. Her illustrations, predominantly watercolours, can be found in books, picture books, galleries and magazines. Harel teaches life drawing and illustration at the Edinburgh Drawing School. Previously longlisted in the 2018 Book Illustration Competition, run by the House of Illustration and The Folio Society, Harel's illustrations and binding design for Howl's Moving Castle won the 2019 competition. Marie has since illustrated Castle in the Air for Folio (2021), House of Many Ways (2021), The Neverending Story (2022) and Howl's Moving Castle Limited Edition (2026).

IN THE STUDIO

Winning Folio’s Book Illustration Award in 2019 – for her version of Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones – was just the springboard French author and illustrator Marie-Alice Harel needed. And she hasn’t looked back since, subsequently collaborating on a number of projects, including Castle in the Air and The House of Many Ways by Jones and The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.

Now, she returns to the beloved story where it all began with Folio’s Limited Edition of Howl's Moving Castle (publishing March 2026) created to mark the 40th anniversary of the book with spectacular design, new artwork and the first-ever map of Ingary.

But as a true ‘artist in residence’ – the desk in her Edinburgh flat doubles as her dining table – Harel knows all too well the importance of a work-life balance...