Authors and Illustrators

Jemma Beeke is a published author based in Norfolk. Her first published picture book, The Brand New Creature, was illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke and was shortlisted for the Mother Goose Award for new illustrators. Jemma then went on to have a second book published, The Show at Rickety Barn,

illustrated by Lynne Chapman. Jemma is based in Norfolk.

Tiphanie Beeke is an award-winning children’s book illustrator and teacher based in the south of France. Tiphanie graduated from the Royal College of Art in London with a Master's Degree in Communication and Design. Tiphanie works predominantly in the picture book market and is the illustrator of the popular Fletcher’s Four Seasons series, written by Julia Rawlinson. Alongside illustrating, Tiphanie teaches Art and Literacy at an international school in France.

Josephine Birch is a print maker with a first class B.A. in Illustration and a postgraduate scholarship from The Royal Drawing School, after which she achieved a first class M.A. in Children’s Book Illustration at CSA. She is also a workshop leader and lecturer in Illustration.

Artist Anna Bruder graduated from Central SaintMartins in 2004. Since then, Anna has  worked in the world of theatre, not onlypractising as a highly skilled prop maker for London’s leading West Endmusical, but also designing and building awe-inspiring sets and installations around the UK.

In 2011 Anna started aninteractive theatre and art company for children and their families called ‘ALine Art’. Anna has toured her work nationally and  internationally to criticalacclaim, from shopping centres to schools, libraries to outdoor festivals, art museums to theatres. Visit www.alineart.co.uk for more information.

Fun for Fingers is her first published book, published by Graffeg in October 2020.

Drew Buckley is the photographer and author behind the Graffeg title Puffins, as well as contributing photographer to Wilder Wales, the survey of the best of Welsh flora and fauna written by Julian Rollins.

Every year Graffeg produce stunning landscape and nature calendars featuring Drew's photography which are always very popular.

In 2017 Drew received his fourth Highly Commended at the British Wildlife Photography Awards and since 2012 has won awards at the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, International Garden Photographer of the Year, National Photography Awards, Outdoor Photographer of the Year and Bird Photographer of the Year.

Tim Budgen was born in Surrey in 1977, and is a freelance illustrator. For much of his life he has been scribbling down ideas and can usually be found with a pencil in one hand and a sketchbook in the other!

Tim has a real passion for character design and storytelling. His illustration work has been described as ‘story telling with whimsical charm, warmth and humour’ and he’d like to think that is pretty true!

Tim illustrated Only One of Me: A love letter from Dad which is now available in hardback, paperback and as Welsh language version: Does Ond Un Fel Fi – Dad

Jo Byrne is a passionate animal welfare and animal rights champion living in a relatively rural town in Bedfordshire. Bonkers about all wildlife as well as being the very epitome of a 'crazy cat-lady', home usually consists of two permanent-resident cats, one or two foster cats and a slew of regular wildlife visitors. The Bee Book is her first book for Graffeg, published May 2019, with work currently underway on The Badger Book.

Adrian Cale is an award-winning wildlife filmmaker, cameraman, writer and naturalist who has made acclaimed TV documentaries for international broadcasters including

BBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet and Sky. Many are also shown on well-known streaming services.

Billie Charity is an award-winning

portrait and reportage photographer who has worked closely with David Hurn, John Bulmer and Niall McDiarmid. Her

clients include the National Trust, the Big Lottery Fund, the Canal and River Trust, the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, the Poets’ Society, Country

Living and Faber. Her two previous photo books, People of Hay and Colour, were launched to critical acclaim. Billie is

based in Hay on Wye in Wales.

Dom Conlon is a poet and author with a keen interestin science and the natural world. As an active campaigner for libraries, Domgives up his time to perform locally and work with children and adults in orderto approach science and well-being through poetry. Dom has appeared on stage to interview Tony Robinson, Andrew MichaelHurley and Karen Lloyd, and has also read for Chris Riddell’s poetry tours. Wild Wanderers is his first series with Graffeg, with the first book published in 2020.

Nick Cope writes songs for young children and regularly performs at schools, theatres, festivals and events for families around the country. He has established a strong following all over the world, with both parents and children loving his work. In a previous life, Nick was the lead singer of the rock band The Candyskins.

Nick's work takes on a new form in a series of illustrated books based on his original songs with full lyrics and guitar chords at the back. The first three titles in the series, No I don't wanna do that!, The very silly dog and Why is the sky blue? were published by Graffeg in April 2018.

Tom Cox was born in Nottinghamshire in 1975. Since quitting his job as rock critic for The Guardian in 2000, he has written several books, including four about his cats – Under The Paw, Talk To The Tail, the top ten Sunday Times bestseller The Good, The Bad And The Furry, and Close Encounters Of The Furred Kind – plus two about his adventures as Britain’s most inept golf professional.

Gilli Davies is a food writer and Cordon Bleu chef from Wales. As an author, Gilli has written a total of twelve books on the food of Wales, Cyprus and Organic Produce. She has been involved with food, food journalism and broadcasting since about 1980.

In 2011 we published Gilli’s Flavours of Wales recipe book, the book is ideal for those who enjoy simple and home-cooked dishes and flavours. The flavours of Wales is now available as a small pocket guide also and part of the Pocket Wales Collection. Also available are the Flavours of Wales Cards featuring full recipes.

The Flavours of Wales Collection was published in October 2015, followed by a collection of three Welsh cookbooks in November 2016 and another three in October 2017.

Following on from the Flavours of Wales series, Gilli has gone on to write 12 Flavours of England cookbooks celebrating the best of English cuisine. The first four titles published in March 2019 and the remaining eight publish in February 2020.

Nicola Davies is an award-winning author, whose many books for children include The Promise (Green Earth Book Award 2015, Greenaway Short-list 2015), Tiny (AAAS Subaru Prize 2015), A First Book of Nature and Whale Boy (Blue Peter Award Shortlist 2014).

Nicola's books published by Graffeg include Perfect (Greenaway Longlist 2017), Animal Surprises (Klaus Flugge Longlist 2017), and the Shadows & Light series.

Nicola graduated in Zoology from King’s College, University of Cambridge, and studied geese, bats and whales before becoming a presenter for The Really Wild Show and the BBC Natural History Unit. She has been writing for children for more than 20 years. Underlying all Nicola’s writing is the belief that a relationship with nature is essential to every human being, and that now, more than ever, we need to renew that relationship. Nicola is based in Crickhowell, Wales.

Glenn Dene is a South Wales based OperatingDepartment Practitioner, who works for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board. He is also aphotographer and writer. In 2017 his documentary photography project Magpie which follows thelives of ten children with ASD was published in fourteen countries. In 2019 hepublished his first novel Rotten Apples Comedy Club. He lives in Abergavennywith his wife, children and labrador. Glenn Dene is the photographer of Behindthe Mask and The Second Wave.

Hannah Doyle lives in a small village in mid Wales with her young son Jonah, and a very bouncy sheepdog called Holly.

Hannah has previously illustrated books for young adults, including Pete and the Five-a-Side Vampires, published by Firefly Press in 2014, and six books in the Cyfres Clec series for Carreg Gwalch.

In 2018 Graffeg published Ootch Cootch, a picture book written by Malachy Doyle and illustrated by Hannah. This was Hannah’s first picture book.

Malachy Doyle grew up by the sea in Northern Ireland, and after living in Wales for many years has returned to Ireland. He and his wife Liz bought an old farmhouse on a little island off the coast of Donegal, where they live with their dogs, cats and ducks. Malachy has had well over a hundred books published, from pop-up books for toddlers to gritty teenage novels.

Over the years he has won many prestigious book awards, and his work is available in around thirty languages. Some of his 2018 books include Fug and the Thumps (Firefly Press) and Cinderfella (Walker Books).

In June 2018 Graffeg published Molly and the Stormy Sea, a children’s picture book written by Malachy Doyle and illustrated by Andrew Whitson. The book was published simultaneously in English paperback and hardback as well as Welsh and Irish language editions, Mali a’r Môr Stormus and Muireann agus an Fharraige Fhiáin.

Malachy’s second title with Graffeg, Ootch Cootch, published in August 2018, illustrated by Malachy’s daughter, Hannah Doyle.

The second book in the Molly series, Molly and the Whale, published on 4 July 2019 in English, Welsh and Irish editions. This was followed by Molly and the Lighthouse in 2020.

Joyce Dunbar is best known for her lively and quirky picture books stories, with their wide emotional range. The Guardian has named her as ‘one of the best writers for children today’ with praise for her ‘sensitivity, lyrical style and gentle humour’. She revels in the joy of language, the playfulness of words, and in seeing her work fabulously brought to life by world-class illustrators including her daughter Polly Dunbar.

Many of her stories have been dramatised for the stage and as puppet shows, with Longnosepuppets and Norwich Puppet Theatre. Joyce lives in Norwich.

In May 2019, Graffeg re-published the classic Mouse and Mole series by Joyce with illustrations by James Mayhew, first published in 1993; Mouse & Mole, Mouse & Mole Have a Party, Happy Days for Mouse & Mole and A Very Special Mouse & Mole.

Helen Elliott is a successful, internationally acknowledged artist. She has a reputation as a talented and inspirational teacher. She runs regular ‘Creative Me’ workshops from her studio in Newcastle Emlyn, west Wales, helping students to unlock their creativity, overcome self-doubt, and finally put a paintbrush to canvas. In 2015 she became a fully accredited Golden Artists Paints Inc. artist educator.

Creative Me, Helen’s first book with Graffeg, features the wisdom and tips that she shares in her workshops. From the philosophy of creativity, and working through self-doubt, to the basics of that first splat of paint on the canvas.

In May 2017 Helen published 3 colouring books with Graffeg, Beach Life, Dog’s Life and Village Life, each containing twelve drawings of places around Wales. A series of A3 colouring posters featuring drawings from the books have subsequently been released.

Helen made her children’s book debut in March 2018, producing the illustrations for Paradise Found written by John Milton.

Graffeg published 3 concertina colouring books by Helen in June 2019, featuring landmarks of North Pembrokeshire, South Pembrokeshire and the Gower, Swansea.

Mark Llewelyn Evans trained as an opera singer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio in London. He was principal baritone with Welsh National Opera appearing in many productions and has worked with companies throughout the UK. Mark’s debut album Let the Light In hit the top 10 in the classical charts and his charity single Tell My Father reached number 1 in UK.

Mark is the founder and creative director of ABC of Opera Productions, which tours UK-wide introducing children to the stories and glories of the opera through music and storytelling. He won the Amati Guildhall Creative Entrepreneur Award 2019 for his work with the ABC of Opera.

April 2019 saw the publication of Mark’s debut children’s book, ABC of Opera: Baroque. The first in The Academy of Barmy Composers series, Baroque follows the story of Jack and Megan, who are transported back in time to learn about the history of opera with Professor Peri.

Tom Ferris is a publisher, historian and author. He has written 16 books and 30 video scripts to date, all relating to his keen passion for railway heritage. He is the Assistant Station Master at Bridgnorth, on the Severn Valley branch of GWR.

The first titles in the Lost Lines of Wales series published in April 2016, exploring four railway lines in Wales, all built during the golden age of steam. The series has expanded every year since, now including 12 titles: Ruabon to Barmouth; Cambrian Coast Line; Aberystwyth to Carmarthen; Brecon to Newport; Chester to Holyhead; Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth; Vale of Neath; The Mid Wales Line; Rhyl to Corwen; Bangor to Afon Wen; Conwy Valley Line; Heads of the Valleys.

In 2018, Tom took on the role of series editor, introducing authors Paul Lawton, David Southern and Geoffrey Lloyd to the Lost Lines series.

The first three titles in the Lost Lines of England series, written by authors Roger Norfolk and Paul Lawton, published in June 2019, covering Birmingham to Oxford, Ryde to Cowes and The Cheddar Valley Line.

Cathy Fisher grew up with eight brothers and sisters, playing in the fields overlooking Bath. She has been a teacher and practicing artist all her life, living and working in the UK, Seychelles and Australia.

Art is Cathy’s first language. As a young child she scribbled on the walls of her bedroom and ever since has felt a sense of urgency to paint and draw stories which she feels need to be heard and expressed.

Cathy’s first published picture books with Graffeg include Perfect, published in May 2016, followed by The Pond in May 2017, both written by Nicola Davies. Both of these books were Longlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal.

In October 2018 Graffeg published Flying Free and The Little Mistake, the first two books in the Country Tales series written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Cathy. The second two published in April 2019; The Mountain Lamb and A Boy's Best Friend. The series will conclude in 2020 with Pretend Cows publishing in April and Spikes and Sam in September.

The New Girl is the latest picture book by Nicola & Cathy, publishing in September 2020.

Mama G is an award-winning year round storyteller whose work is driven by the magic of panto. She has been a panto professional for almost twenty years, appearing in productions all over the country, as well as writing, directing, and producing pantomimes for theatres and holiday parks.

Since 2018 she has been sharing stories with children and their families. This has taken her to libraries, theatres, schools and festivals; including the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival and even ZSL London Zoo.

John Gilbey is a writer and photographer based in west Wales. His work has appeared in the New Scientist, Geographical, Times Higher Education and the science journal Nature, as well as the Guardian newspaper.

His career in environmental research, and a lifelong interest in landforms and ecology, give him a solid base on which to build the story of the varied landscapes of Wales.

John has contributed to the Guardian Country Diary column, established back in 1906, since 2006.

Angela Gray opened the doors to her cookery school at Llanerch Vineyard in April 2010. Voted into the Top 10 UK Cookery Schools by The Independent and The Telegraph, she has made several television programmes for the BBC and for UKTV Food, including Hot Stuff and More Hot Stuff. The Cookery School has also been shortlisted for the Best Cookery School in this year’s Great British Food Awards and chosen to join an elite selection of 50 top schools in The National Cookery School Guide.

Angela produced a series of five seasonal cookbooks; Winter Recipes, Summer Recipes, Festive Recipes, Spring Recipes and Autumn Recipes. Each book contains over 30 recipes, including starters, mains and desserts, best suited to each particular time of year. The whole series of books feature dazzling food photography by leading specialist Huw Jones.

Julia Gregson is a British award-winning writer of novels and short stories who resides in Monmouthshire in Wales with her husband, daughter and four step-children.

Her novel East of the Sun was a Sunday Times Best Seller and a Richard and Judy Book Club choice and has sold in 25 countries. She became the 2009 Romantic Novelist of the year and the very next year went on to win the prestigious Prince Maurice prize for Literary Love Stories. Julia also won the Ryman’s Literary Review Award for her first published short story, Apple Blossom Time.

Julia worked with Graffeg to publish the successful book, Crossing Borders, containing interviews and photographic essays with 21 remarkable women who live and work in the Welsh-English Border. Julia has since gone on to attend a number of successful events across the country.

Mari Griffith turned to writing historical fiction in retirement after a working lifetime of presenting, producing and directing a variety of programmes for the BBC and other broadcasters. Her first novel Root of the Tudor Rose became an Amazon best seller, soon followed by The Witch of Eye, the story behind the most sensational treason trial of the 15th century.

Graffeg published her book Pretty Maids in September 2019, celebrating the lives of thirty remarkable women and the flowers named after them.

Sadly Mari passed away on 13 May 2019 after losing her battle with cancer.

Tracey Hammett is a Welsh-born writer who shares hertime between Cardiff and London.

Tracey has written numerous stories, scripts and poems forBBC children’s television, including several BAFTA-nominated and award-winningprogrammes and likes to combine her love of words, stories and rhyme with agood dollop of humour and an awareness of social.

Bettina Harden spent her working life as a publisher of books on art, architecture and design. As an historic garden owner with a passion for garden history, she has brought many years of research into her first book about garden visiting in Wales. Bettina was Chair of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust 1997-2003 and founder Chair of the Trustees of The Gateway Gardens Trust, the first charity devoted to extending access to heritage through social inclusion.Bettina gained her MA in Garden History from the University of Buckingham in 2014.

Bettina published her book The Most Glorious Prospect with Graffeg in October 2017, revealing the historic gardens of Wales as experienced by contemporary visitors during the 17th and 18th century.

Harry Holland is widely regarded as one of Britain’s finest figurative artists. Born in Glasgow in 1941, he spent his childhood in various parts of the UK, settling in London in 1949. He trained at St. Martin’s School of Art from 1965-69, where he first exhibited in 1969, before moving to Cardiff in 1973, where he lives and paints today. Using classical techniques to realise his contemporary figurative paintings, Harry incorporates motifs such as mythology and pathos to imbue his work with an enigmatic timelessness. Through a lifetime of dedication to his craft, Harry has established himself as a leading influence in academic art as well as modern fine art. 

Kersten Howard spent most of his childhood in the small village of Lamphey, Pembrokeshire. As a child he was introduced to the beauty of his home county by his grandparents, who would take their grandchildren out across the coastal path for a Sunday after-dinner ‘stomp’.

Under Celtic Skies is a collection of images which celebrate the open spaces and amazing colours that can be found around the country throughout the year. The book explores both inland and coastal Pembrokeshire through a collection of 50 full-colour images with an eye to both geography and season with extended captions. Kersten’s work is also exhibited in his popular Under Celtic Skies greetings cards.

Mererid Hopwood was born in Cardiff. After obtaining a degree in Spanish and German from Aberystwyth University, she gained a doctorate in German Literature from University College, London, before going on to lecture in German at Swansea University. She has since taught languages at schools in Wales and is currently a professor at University of Wales, Trinity St. David.

Mererid was the first female poet to win the Chair at the National Eisteddfod (2001) and two years later won the Crown. The novel O Ran also won her the Prose Medal in 2008. She was the Bardd Plant (Welsh Children's Poet Laureate) in 2005, and winner of Wales Book of the Year (poetry) in 2016 with her volume Nes Draw.

In September 2019 Graffeg published Mererid's Welsh adaptation of Jackie Morris's popular children's book Tell Me a Dragon, titled Ga' i Hanes Draig?.

Mererid adapted Robert Macfarlane's poetry in the award winning The Lost Words (Hamish Hamilton) into Welsh. Geiriau Diflanedig was published by Graffeg in October 2019.

Christopher Howells is a Cardiff-based film and television director and producer whose work includes a broad range of factual documentaries for regional, network and international broadcast. His BBC network credits include The Clocks Go Forward Tonight, narrated by Steven Fry (BBC Radio 4), Young Musician of the Year (BBC Radio 4) and So What Do You Do All Day? with Adrian Chiles.

Graffeg published Caldey Island in 2010, a well-rounded guide to the Island's tourist features, landscapes and topography. The book was republished in 2017 in a smaller compact edition.

Oliver Hurley is a writer and editor. He has contributed to a wide variety of publications, including The Big Issue, GamesMaster, The Guardian, Loaded and Metro. He lives near Bristol and currently works for an interiors magazine.

In 2008, he launched the blog Pint of 45 with photographer Phil Jones, which combines fly-on-the-wall photos with wry, first-person accounts of visits to numerous Cardiff pubs and bars. The blog was the inspiration for his Graffeg book A Drinker’s Guide to Cardiff (2014).

The book is a celebration of the huge variety of hostelries the city has to offer: old-fashioned ale houses, cavernous chain pubs, cheap ‘n’ cheerful student haunts, glorious beer gardens and idiosyncratic free houses.

Oliver is also the author of Wrestling’s 101 Strangest Matches (Pitch Publishing, 2010).

Julia Hubery was born in Stamford and trained as an architect. She loves the countryside and nature, finding it a pool of inspiration to draw on in her writing. Julia now lives in Gosport with her husband and three children and hopes one day to get back to doing pottery – once her children have all grown up! 

Julia is the author of The Invention, out July 2022

Anastasia Izlesou is a UK based freelance illustrator from Lithuania. She studied illustration at the Arts University Bournemouth. Her preferred media are watercolour and pencil. Anastasia's deep interest in literature and nature informs and inspires her illustration practice.

In 2016, Anastasia was chosen to illustrate the first title in Nicola Davies's Shadows and Light series, The White Hare. Her second book, Leap, Hare, Leap! written by Dom Conlon, published in 2020.

Cathy Jenkins is a secondary school English teacher from Swansea. She has been heavily involved in the rolling out of the Arts Council for Wales’s Cynefin project, which is working towards helping schools to develop a more diverse curriculum, and she was a

lead-teacher in the first cohort of schools to undertake the project. This would be her first published book. 

Claire Jenkins is an illustration graduate from Swansea, South Wales. Working in pencil, markers or watercolour, she is inspired by her surroundings, producing artwork that includes portraiture as well as the natural world.

In 2017, Claire was chosen to illustrate the third book in Nicola Davies's Shadows and Light series, The Selkie's Mate.

Nick Jenkins has been a practicing

landscape and outdoor photographer for over 15 years, having set out to capture the emotive quality and sense of awe he experienced walking the British

countryside through his images. An Associate of the Welsh Photographic Federation and the Royal Photographic Society, Nick operates Free spirit Images to market and promote his photographic work, providing tutoring and advice as well as producing photographs for

magazines, calendars and greetings cards and other clients throughout the UK.

Shann Jones is a Pulitzer-nominated journalist and professional author with six

previously published books. She is also the co-founder and co-director of Chuckling Goat, an explosively successful natural health business. The business is based on the couples’ family farm in Ceredigion, Wales, where the real ‘Magic Garden’ is located.

Huw Jones is a food photography specialist based in Newport, South Wales. His specifically designed studio is amongst the best equipped in the UK, with all dishes prepared and photographed on site using the highest standard industry equipment.

Huw's stunning images showcase Gilli Davies's recipes in the Flavours of Wales and Flavours of England series, as well as the range of seasonal cookbooks from Angela Gray's Cookery School.

Sarah KilBride lives in the Black Mountains in mid Wales.

Sarah is a trained actress, teacher, workshop leader and the author of ten picture books in the Princess Evie series, as well as four Evie fiction books for older readers. The Princess Evie series have been translated into seventeen languages, including Welsh, Arabic, Norwegian, French and Mandarin, with sales of over one million books. Sarah’s latest title, Being a Princess is Very Hard Work, was published by Bloomsbury in 2018.

Graffeg published Sarah’s rhyming text A Cuddle and a Cwtch in November 2019, featuring illustrations by James Munro.

Jason Korsner has been a BBC radio journalist since 1994. During that time, he has been a regular news reader on 5live and currently reads the news on Radio 2 and 6Music under the name Jason K. He has been reviewing films since 1998 for a variety of publications and has also covered the Oscars, Golden Globes and the Cannes and London Film Festivals for radio. Jason is also a film-maker and photographer. Jason's titles with Graffeg include What Can You See? and I Like to Put Food in My Welly, both picture books for children aged 3-5. Jason lives in Golders Green, North London with his partner and young children.

Miriam Latimer is an award-winning illustrator, author and potter living on the North Devon coast with her husband and two sons. She studied Illustration at UWE in Bristol and has since illustrated over 25 books and worked with publishers including Hodder Children’s Books, Barefoot Books and Little Tiger Press. She has also worked with Bookstart, Devon Life and Saga Magazine, among others. Miriam creates bright, joyful, characterful, nature-inspired illustrations and previously won a Children’s Book Gold Award with the Association of Illustrators. 

Max Low is an Illustration graduate of Hereford College of Arts. In 2017, he was shortlisted for the Penguin Random House Student Design Award. He has since produced work for Moonpig, Anorak Magazine and The Hay Festival.
In 2017 he was selected by bestselling children’s author Nicola Davies to illustrate Bee Boy and the Moonflowers, the penultimate tale in Graffeg’s Shadows and Light series.
The Ceri & Deri series are his first solo authored and illustrated works. Good to be Sweet and No Time for Clocks were published in August 2018, Build a Birdhouse and The Treasure Map followed in April 2019 and Young Whippersnapper and The Very Smelly Telly Show published in April 2020.

Max has also illustrated I Like to Put Food in My Welly by Jason Korsner, published in October 2019.

Will Nicholls is director of BWPA and a wildlife photographer and cameraman based in Bristol. His previous television credits include working for the BBC, Plimsoll Productions and Silverback Films. He is also the founder of the popular nature

photography online resource Nature TTL and has run the Bird Photographer of the Year

competition for the last three years.

Robert Macfarlane is the author of Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, The Old Ways, Landmarks, and The Lost Words, co-created with Jackie Morris. Mountains of the Mind won the Guardian First Book Award and the Somerset Maugham Award and The Wild Places won the Boardman-Tasker Award. Both books have been adapted for television by the BBC. The Lost Words won the Books Are My Bag Beautiful Book Award and the Hay Festival Book of the Year. He is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and writes on environmentalism, literature and travel for publications including the Guardian, the Sunday Times and the New York Times.

Mariela Malova is a London-based artist, illustrator and designer from Bulgaria. Starting off as a theatre designer, she has comfortably moved from stage to page, enchanted by the world of book illustration. Mariela works primarily in traditional media but feels equally happy working digitally. Her favourite themes are nature, fairy tales and whimsical animals. Mariela is the artist for the Frog’s Bog series, Raggedy Man Tales and Dark Lines of London. Mariela has illustrated Frog's Bog, written by Marielle Bayliss and published by us.

Lauren Marrinan studied Ecology at Cardiff University alongside working in scientific engagement at Amgueddfa Cymru. She now works as a Biology teacher in Gloucestershire, where she continues to enjoy walking in the countryside and appreciating British flora and fauna. Lauren co-wrote 101 Rare Plants of Wales with Dr Tim Rich, published by Graffeg in September 2019.

Jane Matthews studied Fine Art at The Ruskin in Oxford and Art History at the Courtauld Institute in London and worked in the film and TV industry before escaping to live on the remote Welsh Island of Skomer, where she compiled the first edition of Skomer – Portrait of an Island. Jane now lives and works in Shetland. A new, compact edition of Skomer was published June 2018. Jane also produced illustrations for Horatio Clare's Brecon Beacons: Myths & Legends, published by Graffeg in June 2017.

Jan McCafferty is an experienced children’s bookillustrator now residing in Manchester, having studied Graphic Design and Illustration at theCentral England University. Her illustrations for other successful children’s books include TheEnchanted Wood, the Oliver Moon series and the Kid Cowboy series.

John Milton’s background spans both music and engineering, and he dedicates time away from running a ship repair yard in his native Hull to write children’s stories. A chance meeting with Helen Elliott, a childhood friend, sparked the ‘day in the life’ story of her dog, Paradise Found, published by Graffeg in 2018. The book was translated into Welsh in 2020, publishing as Darganfod Paradwys September 2020.

David Moore has worked extensively for museums andgalleries in Wales and was curator of Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery between1992 and 2004, where he established an extensive and well-supported programmeof exhibitions focusing upon Welsh artists. David has written books andcatalogues on Welsh art under the Crooked Window imprint, which he runs withartist Sue Hiley Harris (crookedwindow.co.uk). These include catalogues forthe Contemporary Art Society for Wales which demonstrate the substantial impactof the Society’s gifts upon regional public art collections. His books include ATaste of the Avant-Garde: 56 Group Wales, 56 Years, which was published in2012, Y Grwp Cymreig yn 70/The Welsh Group at 70, which wascommissioned bythe group and published in 2018 and Art for Wales publishedin 2020 by Graffeg.

An internationally best-selling author, artist and illustrator, Jackie Morris has over thirty years’ experience in writing and illustrating books. Amongst her many titles, East of the Sun has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal, Little Evie in the Wild Wood and Something About a Bear have been nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal and The Lost Words received the prize in 2019. Jackie was also the winner of the prestigious Hay Medal for illustration in 2018.

Her most recent work includes The Unwinding and other dreamings, a collection of poetry for children, published by Unbound in July 2020, and the sequel to The Lost Words, The Lost Spells, with Robert Macfarlane, forthcoming from Hamish Hamilton in October 2020.

Other titles by Jackie Morris published by Graffeg include the Welsh-language edition of The Lost Words – Geiriau Diflanedig, Tell Me a Dragon, The Snow Leopard and The Ice Bear.

James Munro has been drawing since he could grasp a pencil, and since then has covered everything in his path with his doodles. Books, magazines, menus and films have fallen prey to his drawings. He lives and works in a pile of paper, pencil shavings and spilled ink in  Liverpool, and is happiest having a cwtch on a North Wales beach. 

James illustrated A Cuddle and a Cwtch out November 2019 and The Invention out July 2022.

Roy Noble is a native of Brynaman in the Amman Valley of Carmarthenshire but has lived for over forty years in Aberdare. Following a career in education, rising to headmaster in two primary schools, he eventually joined the BBC, where his daily radio programme has attained high listening figures in Wales for many years, culminating in
a national Sony Award.

Graffeg published Down the Road and Round the Bend in May 2018, a collection of traditional stories and urban myths from Wales. Roy's first two children's books published in 2020, Walking with Bamps and The B Team, both illustrated by welsh artist Karl Davies.

Author Maggie Ogunbanwo is based in north Wales where she runs Maggie’s African Twist, selling predominantly African sourced or themed food products both on and offline. These days Maggie’s African Twist operates from The Red Lion in the village of Penygroes, surrounded by the beautiful Snowdonia countryside with its rich heritage and culture. Its roots however are deep in African soil, passed down through generations of instinctive, but highly gifted culinary masters who also doubled as mothers and grandmothers.

Maggie is passionate about food and cooking as well as being committed to quality and the support of local providers. Her influences flow from her Mam and Nain but are extended through contact with and work in environments with West Indian, Caribbean, Indian, Italian, Mediterranean and Latino foods. They continue to grow and meld with an additional Welsh touch added to the mix, widening Maggie’s international scope to tantalise a range of taste buds.

In 2021, with support from the Food and Drink Wales Industry Board, Graffeg published Maggie’s book, The Melting Pot, which showcased the diversity and variety of the Welsh BAME community’s culinary expertise.

Amanda Owen is a shepherdess, wife and mother living on a 2000 acre hill farm in Ravenseat, North Yorkshire. She and her husband Clive manage their flock of 1000 sheep, nine children, 120 cows, eight horses, seven dogs, pigs and chickens between them. Graffeg published Amanda’s official calendar between 2014 and 2017 along with the Yorkshire Shepherdess notecards, greetings cards and notebook.

Jamie Owen, news anchorman, radio presenter and author, was born and brought up in Pembrokeshire and joined the BBC in 1989, becoming a leading figure in Welsh broadcasting and presenting the nightly news programme Wales Today for over twenty years. His previous landscape books include Around Wales by B-Roads and By-Ways and accounts of his sailing voyages on Britain’s west coast, documented in Magic Islands and Welsh Journeys.
Jamie’s latest book A Year in Pembrokeshire published June 2018. Jamie and photographer David Wilson explore the historic county of Pembrokeshire in all its seasonal variety. An engaging, intimate and immersive portrait of one of Wales’ internationally treasured locations.

Howard Pearlstein  is the author of nine picture books that have been translated into five languages. His upcoming titles in 2024 and 2025 include This Book Is Not For You and The Bad Book for Good Kids, both published by

Familius. Howard is based in the US.

Andrew Fusek Peters is an acclaimed and prolific author and photographer. He has been shortlisted twice for British Wildlife Photographer of the Year and his photographs regularly appear in the national papers and photo magazines. His supermoon was on the front of the the Times and his ‘hare in bluebells’ was on BBC Springwatch.
Andrew published Upland with Graffeg in June 2017. Commissioned by the National Trust and Natural England for their major environmental project, Stepping Stones, Andrew found more than simply a catalogue of flora and fauna. Upland is an exploration of the wildlife and landscape of the Long Mynd and the Stiperstones, in stunning photography and lyrical nature writing.

Caroline Pitcher is an award-winning author who celebrates through writing, like living life twice. She has written many novels and stories, including the picture books The Snow Whale, The Time of the Lion, Mariana and the Merchild, Nico’s Octopus, The Littlest Owl, Time for Bed, Home Sweet Home and Lord of the Forest and The Winter Dragon, published by Graffeg.

Julia Rawlinson is a writer of children’s poetry andpicture books which have been recognised and sold internationally. Her recentworks include Sweet Dreaming, illustrated by Nicole Wong (Sourcebooks), Dragon’sLost Roar, illustrated by Beccy Blake (Franklin Watts), and Mule School,illustrated by Lynne Chapman (Gullane Children’s Books). Julia Rawlinson isalso the author of the four original four Fletcher stories: Fletcher and theSpringtime Blossom, Fletcher and the Summer Show, Fletcher and the FallingLeaves and Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas. Julia is based inKenilworth, Warwickshire.

Ffion Rees has worked the waters around Ramsey Sound for over 20 years, been a member of the St David’s lifeboat crew for more 10 years, and is a qualified Marine Mammal Observer. Her dedication to and vast knowledge of Ramsey and the surrounding area culminated in Ramsey Island and beyond, her first book, published September 2017.

Her story of rescuing and rehabilitating an injured peregrine falcon formed the basis for Queen of The Sky (also from Graffeg) by internationally celebrated children’s author and illustrator Jackie Morris.

Jane Reynolds is a farmer from Pembrokeshire who hasworked variously in catering and

hospitality. Happy Beans is her first cookbook, published by Graffeg in September 2020.

Jason Rhodes came to write the children’sbook Imagine Eating Lemons as part of amuch larger vision. He wants to educate theyounger generation with the simple toolsneeded to help manage their thoughts andfeelings, resulting in a much more peacefuland connected world. Having suffered fromextreme anxiety himself for many years hediscovered the practice of mindfulness andlife quickly began to change. He has nowended his career as a film actor and decidedto focus all of his energy on helping to spreadawareness of this life-changing practice.

Dr Tim Rich trained as an ecologist at Lancaster University and specialised in botany. He ran the Welsh National Herbarium at Amgueddfa Cymru for 17 years and is a national expert with particular interest in whitebeams and hawkweeds. He is currently working in applied ecology. Tim co-wrote 101 Rare Plants of Wales with Lauren Marrinan, published by Graffeg in September 2019.

Jon Roberts works in IT and lives in Swansea with his wife Sarah and daughter Kya.

Jon published his first book Through the Eyes of Me in August 2017 as a dedication to his 4-year-old daughter, Kya, who had been diagnosed with severe autism. His second book, Through the Eyes of Us, published in August 2019, focusing on Kya's relationship with her friend Martha, also on the autistic spectrum.

Michelle Robinson is an award-winning children's author who has written over 40 books for children during her career so far.

Only One of Me is the product of Michelle’s lifelong love of writing and friendship with Lisa Wells. The two collaborated on this tender and moving rhyming poem which is both a love letter to Lisa’s own daughters and a testament to the unwavering strength of parental love, a timeless message for families facing the challenges of bereavement.

Julian Rollins is a freelance wildlife writer, journalist and editor. A Geography graduate, he has been a working journalist since 1982. He was a political reporter at Westminster before becoming the environment correspondent of Today newspaper and later a production journalist with the BBC TV programme Countryfile. In his 12 years as a freelancer he has written for a wide range of publications including the Telegraph, The Times,
Beautiful Britain, BBC Wildlife, The Countryman, BBC Countryfile and many more.

Graffeg first published Wilder Wales in 2015, followed by a new, compact edition in March 2018, described by Chris Packham as 'a super calendar catalogue of the best places to visit'.

Julian lives near Boncath in Pembrokeshire.

Tamsin Rosewell is an artist, historian, broadcaster and bookseller and hosted the Folk Show for Radio Warwickshire for three years. When she is not broadcasting, lecturing or painting Tamsin works for 50 year-old independent bookshop, Kenilworth Books as a bookseller and review writer. She works mainly in ink on canvas, and owns the most spectacular collection of inks and liquid pigments from all over the world. Tamsin is based in Kenilworth, Warwickshire.

Tamsin has illustrated the second book in the Tales of the Turning Year series, The Wish Gatherers.

Cai Ross has been the owner and maître d’ at Paysanne, a French restaurant in Deganwy, since 2003, taking it over from his parents, who set it up in 1988. His published articles include work for BBC Good Food and North

Wales Magazine. In 2018 Cai wrote a cook book to celebrate 30 years of Paysanne, published

worldwide by Little Holland Press.

Hannah Rounding is an artist and illustrator based in Cardigan, west Wales. In addition to  illustration work, Hannah works as a support worker at a local ‘Care Farm’, supporting adults with additional learning needs and autism. She also works as a freelance artist with various local community groups and charities, using arts as a tool for social change and improved well being.

Hannah illustrated Jon Roberts's books Through the Eyes of Me in 2017 followed by Through the Eyes of Us in 2019. She has also illustrated What Can You See? in 2019, a picture book by Jason Korsner.

Jane Russ lives in West Wiltshire and as well as being Secretary of The Hare Preservation Trust is the Mayor of Westbury and recycling innovator for the town. Jane is also a print maker and does the artwork for all her end papers.

Jane is the author and series editor of the popular Nature Book series which combines fascinating insight into the nature, myth and legend and art and literature of each animal focused on. Titles include The Hare Book (May 2015), The Fox Book (March 2017), The Owl Book (April 2018), The Red Squirrel Book (October 2018), The Bee Book by Jo Byrne (May 2019), The Robin Book (November 2019), The Hedgehog Book by Hugh Warwick (September 2020). Her latest book in the series The Crow Family Book, was published in 2023 and she is currently finishing The Butterfly Book, a joint project with photographer Andrew Fusek Peters which will be publish later in 2024.

Nick Shepley is a Cardiff-based history teacher who has written several books, most of which have been published via his website Explaining History. He has written texts, aimed at students, on subjects including early China, the Russian Revolution and the Story of Cardiff. He has recently been commissoned to write a complete history of the twentieth-century. In the summer of 2014, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, Nick Shepley and Graffeg released their Wales and the First World War pocket book.

Sue Sields is an artist living and working in Cardiff. She was commissioned by the literature department of the Welsh Arts Council to create images for a range of poster poems which have been published by Graffeg as both posters and cards.

Fran Shum was born in Weston–Super-Mare. She grew up with a bombardment of artistic influences, with both her parents being artists, and on a steady diet of graphic novels and Godzilla movies. She uses both traditional and digital mediums to communicate a variety of narratives and emotions within her work, specialising in artwork for bands and tattoo designs as a freelance illustrator. The cult movie posters she has designed have become very popular and she has exhibited these in a variety of venues across the UK. Lately she has also taken the time to create work for younger audiences; she has thoroughly enjoyed the change of pass that the recent collaboration with Nicola Davies has produced. Fran was chosen to illustrate one of the titles in Nicola Davies's Shadows and Light series, Elias Martin, published in March 2017.

Jane Simmons is a children’s author and illustrator and the person behind the Ebb

and Flo picture-book series. Jane studied illustration at Anglia Ruskin University and won the Macmillan Children’s Book Prize in her final 2 years of study. Ebb and Flo picture books were also made into a TV series which aired on Channel 5 and featured the narration of Fiona Shaw. The show has been seen in over 120 territories worldwide.

Kertu Sillaste is an illustrator, art teacher,and picture book author. Sillaste has workedas a graphic designer at the Tallinn CentralLibrary, and currently teaches art at theEstonian Children’s Literature Centre. Shehas written five books, illustrated 16 works,and is a longtime collaborator with thechildren’s magazine Täheke. Sillaste waslisted in the 2016 White Ravens catalogue andwas a candidate for the 2017 Astrid LindgrenMemorial Award.

Steve Smallman has been writing and illustratingchildren’s books for over 40 years. The author of Smelly Peter the Great PeaEater (Winner of the Sheffield Children’s Book Award 2009) and The LambWho Came for Dinner (Shortlisted for the Red House Children’s Book Awardand read by Meatloaf on CITV’s Bookaboo), Steve also received the SheffieldChildren’s Book Award in 2019 for Cock-a-Doodle Poo!. Steve startedworking as an illustrator while still at art college, then, after about 20years, began writing stories of his own. He has so far written over 90 books, with moreon the way.

Zeb Soanes is a children’s author and broadcaster. He presents weekday evenings on Classic FM. For over 20 years, he was a newsreader and reassuring voice of the Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4. On television he was the first person to welcome viewers to BBC Four, where he also presented the BBC Proms. He has earned a reputation as ‘the go-to person for music narration’ with the UK’s leading orchestras, performing favourite works for children including Paddington’s First Concert and Peter and the Wolf. 

It was through broadcasting the BBC Radio 4 Annual Christmas Appeal that Zeb started to work with St Martin-in-the-Fields to support their work with the homeless and vulnerable. It inspired the central theme of Gaspard’s Christmas and, following a great tradition, proceeds from this book will go to the charity in perpetuity in the same way that royalties from J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan continue to support London’s Gt Ormond Street Children’s Hospital to this day.

Zeb studied Drama and Creative Writing at UEA and has written for The Observer, Country Life and The Literary Review. His best-selling first book for children, Gaspard the Fox, began a series of stories, illustrated by James Mayhew, inspired by his remarkable encounters with a real urban fox for which The Mammal Society made him their first patron. 

Zeb released the first in a series of three children’s books in May 2018. The series of picture books will be inspired by Zeb’s encounters with an urban fox, Gaspard, who is reputed to be ‘the handsomest fox in London’ and who appeared at his home with an injured leg. Zeb fed the fox until she recovered and a powerful bond formed between the pair, with Gaspard a regular visitor, appearing at the sound of Zeb’s Brompton bicycle and eventually bringing her cubs to visit. Since then she has become something of a social media star, with her Twitter page quickly gaining nearly 4,000 followers and her reputed taste for cave-aged parmesan attracting the attention of the national media.
Gaspard the Fox, illustrated by award-winning illustrator James Mayhew, published May 2018. This was followed by Gaspard Best in Show in August 2019.

David Southern has collaborated with Peter Waller to produce three titles in the Lost Lines series, edited by Tom Ferris.

Ali Stearn is the owner of Jack Brock. Together they visit care homes, bringing pleasure (and chaos!) to staff and residents

alike. They particularly support those living with dementia, having raised over £25k to date. Ali started illustrating Jack Brock

Christmas cards in 2019 with proceeds of the sales going to dementia charities local to her

home in Norwich. This will be Ali’s first book.

Professor Terry Stevens is an international tourism consultant. A love of travel and interest in landscape was inspired by a teacher of geography at Yeovil Grammar School and fuelled by fellow East Coker ‘villagers’; William Dampier (1651-1715) explorer, hydrographer and buccaneer; and the great twentieth-century poet, T. S. Eliot.
Terry arrived in Swansea to study Geography at Swansea University in 1970. After gaining his MSc in Land Management at Reading University he returned to work at the Wales Tourist Board and has lived in Wales ever since, where he learnt to speak Welsh.
After working as the Director of Tourism for West Glamorgan Council, Terry became Development Manager for Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments and later Dean and Professor of Tourism Management at Swansea Metropolitan University before establishing his consultancy business.
Terry Stevens is the author of Landscape Wales, a pictorial celebration of the glorious natural treasures and landscapes of Wales. Featuring spectacular mountains, dramatic coastlines, gentle lowlands and idyllic river valleys in over 80 photographs. Twelve short essays by celebrate a dozen of Terry Stevens’ favourite and best-loved locations from around Wales, delving into their history and narrating their part in the story of Wales. His choices include soaring mountaintops, ancient monuments, modern architecture that defies tradition, and timeworn land, carved by Wales’ famous rivers.

2020 sees the publication of Wish You Were Here, exploring 50 of the world’s greatest destinations: what makes these places great to visit, who are the people behind these successful operations and what ideas make them leaders in world tourism destination management. Wish You Were Here published in September 2020.

Angie Stevens is an illustrator and mother of three based in Swansea. Angie is the author of Doodlemum: A Year of Family Life and illustrator of My Mummy Says.

Angie is also the illustrator of Bob the Dog Gets a Job.

Dr Greg Stevenson is an architectural historian and Research Fellow of the University of Wales, where he lectured in the history of Welsh architecture at Lampeter. Known to viewers of S4C television for his series ‘Y Ty Cymreig’ and ‘Y Dref Gymreig’, Greg has authored or co-authored several architecture books including ‘Cartrefi Cymreig/ Welsh Homes’, ‘Cartrefi Cefn Gwlad Cymru/ Houses of the Welsh Countryside’, Palaces for the People, The 1930s Home etc. He restores vernacular and traditional buildings across Europe for Under the Thatch.

Greg collaborated with Dr Mark Baker and David Wilson to produce 50 Buildings that Built Wales in November 2016.

Margaret Anne Suggs is achildren’s book illustrator and has published over a dozen books in four different languages. Margaret

Anne was raised in the American Deep South but moved to Dublin, Ireland to pursue a Master’s Degree at the National College of Art and Design. She has completed an MA in Visual Communications and an MA in History of Design + Applied Arts. She serves on the Board of Directors for both Illustrators

Ireland and the International Board on Books for Young People Ireland (IBBYIre). She lectures part-time at Ballyfermot College,

where she founded the illustration course (Higher National Diploma).

Ed Thomas is Creative Director and Executive Producer at Fiction Factory. He has written, directed or produced more than 150 hours of award-winning drama across all genres. His plays have toured internationally and been translated into more than 10 languages. They include House of America (1996), Song from a Forgotten City (1995), Gas Station Angel (1998) and Stone City Blue (2004).

Ed Thomas collaborated with Ed Talfan and David Wilson on the books Hinterland: Ceredigion Landscapes and welsh language edition Y Gwyll: Tirweddau Ceredigion in 2017.

Melita Thomas has a Master’s in Historical Research from the Institute of Historical Research and is currently a doctoral

candidate at University College London. She is the author of The King’s Pearl and The House of Grey, and a co-founder of the

popular Tudor Times website.

Spanish-born Toto (Antonio Reche

Martinez) was born at the foot of

Montserrat mountain, just outside

Barcelona. He has designed everything from operas to pantomimes and puppet shows, and first came the the UK

to study at the London School of Fashion. Together with his husband, James Mayhew, he has painted live on stage with classical orchestras, and they have also painted murals in schools all

over the UK, and as far away as Ankara and Singapore. Nowadays he lives in Suffolk with James, and when they’re not walking Diva the dog, they are busy conjuring stories and art for books and

theatre. 

Anja Uhren is a storyteller - working with images as well as words to deliver narratives. Originally from Germany she now lives and works in the UK as
a freelance illustrator, after graduating from the Arts University Bournemouth in summer 2015.

Anja loves drawing, travelling and comics and nothing better than combining all three. On her journeys, big and small, she always carries one or two sketchbooks to record observations and impressions which later inform and inspire her illustration practice.

Anja was chosen to illustrate one of the books in Nicola Davies's Shadows and Light series, Mother Cary's Butter Knife, which published in 2016.

Brought up in Bradford, Peter Waller grew up witnessing the gradual decline of the city s trolleybus network. He studied history at university and also has a masters degree in industrial archaeology. In 1986, he began a career in publishing, working for a number of years for Ian Allan Publishing Ltd where he oversaw the commissioning and publication of a wide range of books. His first book, British and Irish Tramway Systems since 1945, was published in 1992 and since then he has written extensively on trans-port subjects. Moving to Shropshire in 2007, he is now a full-time author and editor and well as being a director and secretary of the Online Transport Archive and a committee member of the National Railway Heritage Awards.

Peter is the author of the Lost Tramways series, looking back at the long lost tramway systems of major British towns and cities.

Hugh Warwick is an ecologist and writer with a particularfondness for hedgehogs. His first book, A Prickly Affair, was endorsedby Jeanette Winterson. In April 2014 Reaktion Books published his illustratedmonograph on the iconography of the hedgehog and his later book Linescapes(2017) investigates the impact that the lines we make have on the capacity ofwildlife to thrive. Hugh’s latest book is The Hedgehog Book published byGraffeg in 2020.

In addition to writing, Hugh isa spokesperson for the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, a Visiting Fellow at Oxford Brookes University, and regularlyengages in public speaking, from primary schools to postgraduate researchgroups, via the WI and Wildlife Trusts.

Toby Watson is executive chef at Outside Gourmet Catering, Llandudno, where he uses the finest quality ingredients to create bespoke menus.

Alec White owns and operates Primrose Hall Peonies, Westoning, Bedfordshire, a RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal award-winning specialist peony nursery. With the largest selection of rare and collectable peonies for sale in the UK, the nursery regularly exhibits at shows such as RHS Cardiff, RHS Malvern, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, RHS Chatsworth, RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival, RHS Tatton and BBC Gardeners’ World Live.

Alec is the author of My Love Affair with Peonies

Andrew Whitson is an award-winning artist and Belfast native who likes to be called Mr. Ando! He lives in an old house which is nestled discreetly on the side of a misty hill; at the edge of a magic wood, below an enchanted castle in the shadow of a giant’s nose. His house looks down over Belfast Harbour where the Titanic was built and up at the Belfast Cavehill where an American B-17 Flying Fortress bomber plane once crashed during World War II!

Andrew is the illustrator of the Molly series, written by Malachy Doyle, following the adventures of Molly and her friends and family on the small fishing village island.

William Wilkins is a Welsh artist who paints using a technique based on pointillism. Originally trained at the Royal College of Art, London, William enjoyed a series of sensationally successful exhibitions in London in the 1980s and 90s. His work is characterised by attention to detail, with many paintings taking more than a decade to complete.
All are worked on from the subject, in the correct light and, in the case of landscapes, at the same season and the same time of day. For example, Avenue Summer, was painted in the early summer, in bright sunlight, between 2pm and 4pm. Completing the painting took thirteen years.
William, the great, great grandson of the designer of the National Gallery in London, was also the founding chairman of theWilliam Wilkins Welsh Historic Gardens Trust, and was project director at the National Botanic Garden of Wales and the founding director of the Aberglasney Restoration Trust. He was awarded the CBE in 2003 for services to the environment.
William lives and works in Wales but for the past nineteen years he has also worked in Venice. In November 2014, Graffeg published William Wilkins, a celebration of the life and career of the painter. Written by Draid Fraser Jenkins, curator at National Museum Wales and Tate Gallery, the book is a retrospective of drawings and paintings with a biographical essay written by David Moore.

Jonathan Williams is a serial food and drink entrepreneur having established several successful businesses, notably Café Môr, The Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company and Barti Ddu Rum (spiced rum company).

Richard Williams was raised on a farm in north Pembrokeshire and travelled extensively following A-levels until the age of twenty-four. Following a degree and master’s degree in Development Studies from Exeter University and LSE respectively, Richard worked as a technical writer at the newly created Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, in Geneva, Switzerland. In later years, Richard moved into the restaurant industry, co-founding Switzerland’s Holy Cow! Gourmet Burger Company and Cardiff’s The Grazing Shed. His ongoing food industry work has been balanced more recently with creative writing courses with Anjali Joseph and Monique Roffey (UEA) and his current mentor, Daren King.

Richard’s debut novel, Mostyn Thomas and the Big Rave, was published by Graffeg in 2018. The Sheriff of Geneva followed in 2020.

The Road was published in 2024.

Sophy Williams attended the Central School of Art and Kingston Polytechnic studying graphic design. Her picture books include Cat in the Dark: A Flurry of Feline Verse, compiled by Fiona Waters.

Sophy has illustrated The Winter Dragon, written by Caroline Pitcher and published by us.

David Wilson is among Wales’s most established photographers, well known for his black and white images that uniquely evoke the character and atmosphere of the nation’s landscapes. His work with Graffeg includes the photographic studies Pembrokeshire and Wales: A Photographer’s Journey, Hinterland: Ceredigion Landscapes and A Year in Pembrokeshire, with broadcaster Jamie Owen. David is based in Llangwm, Pembrokeshire.

Laura Wood is originally from Treviglio, a small town in the north of Italy. She studied illustration in Melbourne, Australia, but

now lives and works in Milan with her two cats. Since 2012, Laura has illustrated picture books, junior fiction, magazines and

textbooks

Máire Zepf is the first ever Children's Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland. Based at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University in Belfast and supported by the Arts Council of NI, her role provides a voice for children’s literature in Northern Ireland.

Most recently, she has created the new ‘Rita’ picture book series with illustrator Andrew Whitson published by us at Graffeg.