Maggie Kneen - Children's Author & Illustrator.
Born by the sea in Crosby on the northwest coast of England, I spent my early childhood covered in mud and ink. Drawing, painting, digging in the soil, and watching such treats as 'Noggin the Nog' and later 'The Clangers' were my favourite things to do. I haven't changed much since then.
 But one day, whilst visiting my Grandpa, my awareness of my own past was
ignited, when Gramps told me he’d discovered that we were descended from the
Vikings who settled on the Isle of Man over a thousand years ago. This nugget of
archaeological information has formed the sense of identity and the fuel that
have kept a fire in my belly and a bee in my bonnet since I was nine years old. |
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Art was what I did best, so that’s what I pursued; but every opportunity to bring history and
archaeology into my life has been taken or made. For instance, when studying illustration at Liverpool Art College,
I chose to spend a summer on the dig at Norton Priory in Cheshire. When I was studying for an MA in Graphic Design at the Central
School of Art and Design (now merged with St. Martin’s) in London, I overlapped this with the start of an M.Phil in
Medieval Art and Archaeology at UCL, and spent a great summer with some new friends on the dig at the 9th century
monastic site of San Vincenzo al Volturno in Italy, mostly drawing, recording, drinking wine and trying to piece
together bits of 9th C fresco painting, amidst jumping orange spiders, scorpions and earthquakes. Even sharing a
bedroom with the crated-up skeletons of twenty-five medieval monks was brilliant!
In 1987, lack of funds dictated that I should leave this behind and find myself work as an illustrator.
 I worked in advertising for the next five years, and did lots of interesting stuff, such as a set of menu covers for the
British Airways ‘World Traveller’ flights, a collection of ‘Myths and Legends’ plates for Wedgwood, and a range of baby animal
motifs for Martha Stewart, some of which were animated in a commercial to accompany the product.
Everything that I did
seemed to have the quality of a children’s illustration, so in 1989 I went back to Italy, but this time with my portfolio of work,
and spent four hard days walking around the Children’s Book Fair that is held annually in Bologna. Here I met Eunice McMullen who
became my children’s book agent, and I have now illustrated well over thirty picture books, including two “Charlotte’s Web” picture
books for Harper Collins, New York. I am currently working on two more E.B.White books for them.
I now illustrate my own stories too, one of which is about a young and very special pig called
Hamlet. |
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