Internationally renowned Killough artist and illustrator Kieron Black has signed a deal to publish two children’s books.
Kieron, a professional Killough-based artist known around the world for his illustrations, has signed a deal with Shrine Bell, the award-winning fiction imprint of Vertebrate Publishing, to write and illustrate a two-part children’s book series. The first book, The Goblin’s Blue Blanket, will be published in March 2018.
After graduating from the Falmouth School of Arts in Cornwall, Â Kieron now lives with his wife and daughter in the sea-side village of Killough in County Down.
With many strings to his creative bow, Kieron produces exceptional watercolour and acrylic mountain landscapes, cartoon strips, skateboard decks and book illustrations. He has illustrated many books throughout his career, but this is the first time his own words will be published alongside his colourful creations. One of his passions is surf boarding, a physical distraction from his world of art, and the bay at Killough provides an excellent venue right on his doorstep, but he has Tyrella beach too just a short distance down the coast.
Kieron said: “Ogie is the goblin with the beloved blue blanket. When it goes missing, he and his cat, Gerald, go off in search for it but somehow manage to miss out on the opportunities for adventure they are offered along the way. All parents will remember a time their child lost a much-treasured item, and for Black the inspiration for the book came when his daughter left her toy at a local fair and had to wait until the next day before she could retrieve it.”
Thrilled about the impeding publication of the series, Black added: “Every time I’m in the hills, the Alps, the Mournes, wherever, I’m seeing Ogie, or something just like him, staring at me from behind some cairn or outcrop. It’s probably marmots, or sheep. But anyway, Ogie comes from the mountains. How perfect then that it should be Vertebrate – a publishing house steeped in the mountains – that picked up his story. I’m delighted.”
With Kieron’s full-colour, vibrant and magical illustrations alongside a poignant, picaresque story with a moral, the Ogie stories promise to be a hit for all with an active imagination and sense of adventure.
As a busy artist, Kieron takes commissions and sells his work on an ongoing basis.
The Goblin’s Blue Blanket will be published by Shrine Bell, an imprint of Vertebrate Publishing, on March 2018. Check out:
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