Illustrator attracts mentor
Turning the page: Korumburra author and illustrator Maude Farrugia is excited about being accepted in the Australian Society of Authors Annual Mentorship Program.
KORUMBURRA author and illustrator Maude Farrugia is set to expand her career after being accepted into a prestigious mentorship program.
She is one of 12 applicants from around the country who will be involved in the Australian Society of Authors Annual Mentorship Program.
Maude, having been successful in the picture book category, now has 25 hours over the course of the year to spend with her mentor.
“My mentor is Ann James, an illustrator,” she said.
“It’s quite funny because I grew up reading books that she illustrated and now I get to work with her.”
Together they will work on Maude’s latest project.
“For the application I had to write a story and put some sample illustrations together,” she said.
“The idea is that we will now develop that manuscript and a bunch of illustrations and then hopefully pitch to publishers.
“I hope to develop the work and have a professional eye cast over it which will be really valuable; hopefully I will get some networks in the publishing world.”
The project they will be working on, The Magnificent Splodge, is slightly true story of what can happen when drawing gets out of hand and onto the lunge room floor.
Maude already has some published work but fortunately it fell out of the criteria boundaries for the mentorship.
“I have written a junior chapter book, Sticks McLennan, and also illustrated an adult book by Mandy Sayer called Coco: an autobiography of my dog last year,” she said.
“Thankfully this didn’t stop me receiving the mentorship.”
Maude has always been surrounded by books, which has lead to her love of writing.
“I grew up in a house that was full of books,” she said.
“My mum’s a teacher and my dad likes making up stories so we were always surrounded by stories.
“I haven’t really grown up; I still read picture books and kids story books.”
Maude still surrounds herself with books on an even grander scale, working full time with West Gippsland Regional Library Corporation.
“I find that working at the library helps with my writing,” she said.
“It’s great and I borrow a lot of books.
“I think I can read about six books in a month.”
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