Malgosia Król

Hi! I'm Malgosia and I write in pictures. My work is continuously shaped by my lived experiences and deeply steeped in my Polish heritage of storytellers, artists, ancestral folklore, and connection to nature and mysticism. I aim to provoke thought in the reader and invite them to peel back the layers within their own life story, while highlighting our collective human experience.

It is important to me that my illustrations expand the narrative instead of only serving as an echo for the words. And that my own unique illustration style always carries an element of nostalgic simplicity, pops of bright colours, themes of daily life, humour, nature, animals, magic and lore. I celebrate an emphasis on imperfection and a focus on the process rather than the result.

I use a combination of analogue and digital tools to illustrate; mainly working with ink, watercolour, charcoal, graphite and coloured pencils. Textures and patterns are important to me and I delight in using stamps, stencils, and found objects from nature.

My journey to becoming an author and illustrator was not linear; I studied psychology, landscape architecture and journalism; working in each field in varying capacities. But writing and drawing were my first loves in life and since embarking on this adventure and feeling encouraged by winning industry recognition and awards for my children's books, my continued focus is on making this craft my life’s work. I really believe that storytelling is integral to our shared humanity and art is a universal language that speaks to the worlds within us, granting us infinite access for growth.

When I’m not getting my hands dirty making marks on paper I can be found gardening with my hands in the dirt, throwing mud on the pottery wheel, adventuring in nature with my family, or learning my fifth language - Spanish, of course!