I suppose this technically counts as my second book—but this one is something special. I’ve teamed up with Southlands Arts, LitOct, and Kite Tangle to illustrate the front cover of the Southlands Arts Anthology: A is for Apple & Penning the Elements.
This project has been a long time coming. I was originally asked to design the cover for year one (A is for Apple), but time constraints and funding meant that the book never reached publication. In a way, that worked out for the best; it gave us the breathing room to develop this year’s anthology, which brings together both Book One and Book Two (Penning the Elements) into a single volume.
The wonderfully insightful Jayne Towndrow is, I believe, the mastermind behind the annual themes—and she shapes the writing competition around them. For example, A is for Apple required an apple to appear somewhere in the story, and Penning the Elements had to incorporate weather in some form.
You might think those prompts are restrictive, but they really don’t need to take centre stage unless you want them to. I’m genuinely excited to see what the 2026 LitOct & Southlands writing competition will inspire.
If you’d like to support Southlands Arts Centre or help ensure the writing competition continues for many years to come, I’d encourage you to pick up a copy of the anthology. And let’s be honest—it’s a first-edition print of a limited run of just 100 copies… so who knows what it might be worth one day. 👀
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