It’s International Women’s Day and to celebrate I’d like to share the story of unsung hero and fantastically great woman, Peggy Larson. After the publication of Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the world last year the book’s publisher, Bloomsbury, ran a competition for readers to nominate a fantastically great woman who changed their world – with me creating an illustration of the winning woman. The stories people generously shared were warm, funny, inspiring, full of bravery, determination and tear jerking (or rather, full onRead more
The Fantastically Great Women Are Go, Go, Go!
Last week was publication week for Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World! Hooray! The book has had some lovely reviews in the run up to publication from book enthusiasts as excited as I am about celebrating history-making women. It’s been a real treat to work on researching, writing, designing and illustrating, not to mention intriguing to explore the distant (and slightly tenuous) connection I have to the suffragette branch of the Pankhurst family. The story goes that Emmeline wasRead more
Plum Pudding Illustrator’s Exhibition
Last week I went on what will probably be my last trip to London for a while (Baby Panks arrives in July) to visit to an illustration exhibition organised by my fantastic agents, Plum Pudding Illustration at the Coningsby Gallery. I’ve been with Plum Pudding since 2012, and had a very exciting time working on some dream projects, so it was lovely to catch up – and to finally get an opportunity to meet some of their other very talented illustrators, and their exhibitionRead more
Being a Mystery Girl …
In 2011, when I did a very quick doodle of a girl with wild curly hair and a magnifying glass I had no idea about the deeply mysterious, exciting and at times, daunting adventure that doodle would take me on. I’d illustrated for lots of different authors and publishers and always dreamed of getting some of my writing published but wasn’t sure I was a very good writer. Let alone capable of writing an entire mystery series, yet the eighth MariellaRead more
Mystery and Mayhem is here!
I’m delighted to say that the wait is over – Mystery and Mayhem, a collection of short mystery stories from twelve authors who love a good mystery, including me, is out now! I was seriously thrilled to be asked to contribute a story to this anthology because as you can see from the cover, I am in very good mystery writing company. You can read more about the story I wrote for the anthology, the books other authors and the DEEPLYRead more
Doodles, Dilemmas and Deadlines
Toot toot! All aboard the Transpennine Express from Leeds to Manchester! On Saturday 2nd April I was invited to run an event with the North West branch of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators). I’m a SCBWI member and regular at the North East group. I love that SCBWI is there for unpublished and published authors and illustrators, and that so many members have been published as a result of learning, exposure and contacts made through SCBWI events. TheRead more