



Illustrators

Anthony Silverston
Books:
Pearl of the Sea
Anthony Silverston is partner and Head of Development at Triggerfish Animation Studios in South Africa where he is currently overseeing a slate of projects in development and production. These include Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, an anthology of 10 short films in production with Disney+, Mama K’s Team 4 with Netflix, and Kiya with Disney, eOne and Frogbox, as well as a number of feature films and TV series in development with various partners. In 2015, he oversaw the Story Lab, an initiative where 4 feature films and 4 TV series were chosen to be developed after a continent-wide search that drew almost 1400 entries. He also directed and co-wrote the feature film Khumba, which premiered in competition at Annecy International Animation Festival in 2013. The script, co-written with Raffaella Delle Donne, won a major UK scriptwriting competition in 2006 and was the first animation selected for No Borders Co-Production Market in its 30-year history. He has produced and written on Seal Team (released globally in December 2021 on Netflix), as well as Triggerfish’s first feature Zambezia. Silverston was also producer of the short film Belly Flop which screened at over 135 festivals and won 14 awards, and the Blender short film, Troll Girl. Before joining Triggerfish, he completed three independent stop-motion shorts of his own. He is also a published Microbiologist, which is a fact that has become increasingly less useful over the years.
.avif)
Barly Baruti
Books:
Chaos In Kinshasa, Madame Livingstone
Baruti Kandolo Lilela, better known by his pen name Barly Baruti, is a renowned Congolese cartoonist. He was born in 1959 in Kisangani into a family of painters. After studying pedagogy, Baruti worked at French cultural centers in Kisangani and Kinshasa, where he produced his first comic work, an environmental comic titled Le temps d’agir. He has been described by the BBC as "the Congolese author best known outside his country.” Baruti is the co-founder of the Atelier de Création et de l'Initiation à l'Art (Creative Workshop for an Initiation to Art) to encourage talented youth in Kinshasa. He has lived in France and Belgium, where he apprenticed with several renowned comic artists. He currently lives in Kinshasa. In 2023, Barly was named Facilitator of Partnerships and Cultural Relations in Europe by the Congolese Ministry of Culture.
.avif)
Daniel Snaddon
Books:
Daniel Snaddon is an artist, illustrator, and film director of Scottish-South African and Chinese-Australian descent, who grew up in Nelspruit, a short drive away from the Kruger National Park. He has worked in the animation and film industries for fourteen years, best known for his work with Triggerfish Animation Studios and with Magic Light Pictures' animated BBC Christmas specials. Among these, Daniel served as animation supervisor on the Academy Award nominated "Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes", co-director on the BAFTA nominated "Stick Man", and as director on both the Annie award winning "The Snail and the Whale" and the International Emmy winning "Zog". Daniel's most recent work, his fourth Magic Light Pictures Christmas special, "The Smeds and the Smoos", based on the book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (authors of The Gruffalo), was awarded the Audience Award at the New York International Children's Film Festival in March 2023. Daniel served as the founding director of CTIAF, South Africa’s premiere animation festival, for 4 years.

James Clarke
Books:
Kariba
Creator: James Clarke was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and educated at the University of Cape Town, where he studied history and literature and completed his Masters in Creative Writing as a Harry Crossley Fellow. In 2016, he was the South Africa finalist in fiction for the PEN International New Young Voices Award. Kariba is his first graphic novel collaboration.

Karen Vermeulen
Books:
It's Just Skin Silly, Wanjiku, Small Mercies, The Cedarville Shop and the Wheelbarrow Swap, Good Luck To Us All: A Graphic Memoir of Sorts
Karen Vermeulen is an artist, illustrator and teacher living in Cape Town, South Africa, known for her happy, uplifting and quirky creations. She is the illustrator of two Catalyst Press children’s books, It's Just Skin, Silly! (2023) and Wanjiku, Child of Mine (2024), middle grade books Small Mercies (2020) and The Cedarville Shop and the Wheelbarrow Swap (2022) as well as many Catalyst Press book covers.

Leo Daly
Books:
The Giant and the Olive
Leo Daly is the son of iconic South African Illustrator and writer Niki Daly. He lives with his wife Magriet Brink in a tiny house by the sea on the southern tip of Africa. You can follow Leo and Magriet @we_are_creativehouse on Instagram.
.avif)
Luke Molver
Books:
Shaka Rising, King Shaka
Luke Molver, author and illustrator: Luke Molver has always known that his life would be fuelled by storytelling. He studied Fine Art and Graphic Design at the Durban University of Technology and works as a freelance illustrator and comic book creator in Cape Town, South Africa. He has produced a number of comic books and his work has been published in a variety of graphic anthologies including the Laugh It Off annual, Velocity, Mamba Comix and GrafLit: Graveyard Literature.
.avif)
M.C. Kasper
Books:
There Doesn't Have to be a Reason
M.C. Kasper was born and mostly raised in Maryland. From her younger years living on a farm, to her college years working in the Museum of Natural History at Frostburg State University, she has immersed herself in the lives of animals. Writing is amongst M.C.’s many creative interests, including photography, painting, and baking. She holds a Bachelor’s in English, and now lives in Severn, Maryland with her husband and daughter.
.jpeg)
Pieter de Poortere
Books:
Dickie Does America, Boykie
Pieter de Poortere is reeds vir meer as twintig jaar die illustreerder-skrywer van die veelbekroonde Boerke-strokiesprente. Hy is gebore en woon in Gent, België. Sy werk is in verskeie tale in tydskrifte, koerante en boeke gepubliseer, en is te sien in die Belgiese Stripsentrum, ’n museum vir strokiesprente in Brussel. Pieter se aweregse karakter het ook sy eie reeks op Vlaamse televisie, op Prime en op die stasie Adult Swim in Frankryk gehad.

Raffaella Delle Donne
Books:
Pearl of the Sea
Raffaella Delle Donne has over fifteen years of experience in the animation industry developing and creating content for Disney, eOne, Wekids, Snipple Animation, Netflix, Baobab Studios and Triggerfish Animation Studios. She was the TV Development Executive for the Triggerfish Studios/Disney Storylab that incubated Mama K's Team 4 and co-wrote the award-winning features Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba. Raffaella is currently a writer and Executive Creative Consultant on Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes, a new preschool show slated for release on Disney.

Willem Samuel
Books:
Pearl of the Sea
Willem Samuel is a visual artist working in animation and comic books. His autobiographical novel, Mengelmoes, was published in the UK by Soaring Penguin Press in 2016 to critical acclaim. His comic work has featured in zines internationally, including the cult series Bitterkomix and in cyberspace via the award-winning online anthology Aces Weekly, brainchild of David Lloyd (V for Vendetta). Previously, Willem Art Directed the pan-African comic Supa Strikas, which was adapted into an animated series. More recently he served as Head of Story on the animated feature Seal Team as well as creating concept art for the Warhammer+ streaming series, Hammer & Bolter.