This week Beate & Branden (“Beate and the fire”) is out in Denmark. It’s an illustrated chapter book written by Alexandra Moltke Johansen, illustrated by me and published by Gads Forlag.
I loved working with Alexandras fun, poetic and weird world. I fell in love with Alexandras work when I read her novel Animal, so I knew I wanted to work with her, when I was approached with her first script for children.
It was an interesting process to find the right tone for the book. There were elements in the script that reminded me of the Danish classics I grew up with, such as the rhymes of Halfdan Rasmussen and the author-illustrated novels by Ole Lund Kirkegaard. And then there was something new that reminded me of… Animal. I made it my mission to try and bridge the old and the new and to help balance the humor and poetry in Alexandras words.
I hope you will find the book as funny and dreamy as I found the process of making it. We are celebrating the release in Copenhagen (Denmark) on Saturday March 14, so come by and bring any children you have on hand. We will be serving a selection of fizzy drinks, coffee and kaj-cakes.
