Who am I?

In a bit more detail….

Hello!

I am a writer, illustrator, map-maker and artist based in Cambridge, England.

I did my first sequential mural with wax crayons across several rooms in my house in tropical Guatemala. I must have been around 5. The mural did not last, but my need to create and inhabit imagined worlds and to share them has, which is why I feel so incredibly lucky to be a writer and illustrator of books and stories.

I wrote and illustrated my first book “El Libro de la Familia” (the family book pictured above) aged 6 where my imagined twin brother and I enjoyed days and days full of adventures and games where we shared everything. It was originally just a bunch of lined paper torn off a notepad, but my parents lovingly had it bound and it is one of my dearest possessions. Memory, and belonging are often on my mind. I don’t remember being lonely as a child even though I have no siblings, there was always lots happening around me, but looking back at this book I do wonder…

My childhood days were filled with imagination, climbing trees, and a little pet parrot Tere. At home I learned to read and to love books. And books took me places, places where there was nothing to fear and your mind could wonder free. There was a lot to fear in Guatemala in the 1980s. When I grew up I flew away in search of something, not knowing exactly what, but somehow I found that companion I had yearned for busking in Rome. I still climb trees but now I do it with our kids. And when asked, I'm delighted to paint on walls!

Through the strength of my painting portfolio I had the opportunity to go back to university in my local city, which allowed me to refocus both my attention and my skills into a storytelling practice that had always been part of my work. Finally I found the form I was looking for and it was a book! Following an Ma in Children’s Book Illustration I have followed an experimental and creative centred practise both as an illustrator and as a writer.

Since 2011 (bar few pandemic pauses) I have done a yearly pilgrimage to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. This is the event that reminds me how voice emerges from serious attention to our own interests and what a great medium a picture book can be for any subject and audience. Each book project belongs somewhere in the world. What a privilege to see the world of children’s publishing in one place!

I started doing ceramics as an antidote to the loneliness that I need for my writing, and it has grown into so much more, gradually becoming a key part of my creative output. I have run after school clubs in comics and art and have also run workshops for events for children and adults both in the UK and abroad. I have an enhanced DBS certificate.

I love drawing. I love stories.