 The
Rainbow Weaver Authors
Tippi Hanson
(aged 11)
As both parents
have a history of professional writing, Tippi probably ‘has it in the
genes’.
Surprising family
and friends by drawing and writing a mock book aged just four (called “The
Singing River’) Tippi had her first article published in a magazine when she
was only seven. Winning competition prizes against children much older in
The Kingston Readers Festival, she has had three poems and a short story
published by Borders Bookstores.
 When her nose
isn’t glued into a book, Tippi spends hours drawing illustrations, cartoons,
making up stories and writing scripts.
Now eleven years
old, her old school (St Paul’s C Of E Junior School, Kingston) have said her
creativity “is phenomenal”, and she has already been identified for the
National Academy of Gifted and Talented Youth programme by her new
secondary school.
Meanwhile, the
publishing house of The Rainbow Weaver book, which she co-created with her
mother, has also further commissioned Tippi to create her own series
of gothic-style guide books. This time, both written and illustrated
by her.
Contact:
Oldcastle Books
Annette Crossland
020 8427 9893
07966326956
Lyndsay Russell
Leaving Watford
College with a diploma in advertising copywriting in the 80’s, Lyndsay then
took a two month sabbatical from her first job at an advertising agency to
join her cousin’s circus (Robert Brothers Circus), gaining skills in
spinning a rope as well as a much coveted Equity card for acting in the
process.
Invited to
continue as a freelance writer by her agency, for ten years she combined the
lucrative field of advertising, whilst enjoying the freedom to pursue an
acting career. The combined field of acting and writing served well and she
appeared in many commercials and TV shows including Honest Decent and
True - an award winning BBC Film starring Gary Oldman and Richard E.
Grant.
Using her
background in writing to win a couple of scriptwriting jobs for television,
she found the combination of a good broadcasting voice and writing led onto
an offer to work for the BBC World Service as a radio correspondent. This
entailed covering fun jobs from Sailing Week in Antigua to the world’s first
bungee jump in Australia. Freelance radio work then spread into reporting
for national radio including shows such as Woman’s Hour, Kaleidoscope and
Loose Ends.
In turn,
reporting snowballed into writing articles for the national press. Soon
renowned for penning first person pieces she covered anything amusing and
crazy; from a course on How to Flirt, to Staying the Night in Britain’s Most
Haunted House.
A twist of fate
around this time, created an unexpected shift towards a visual career as
well as words.
She was sent on a
job and the photographer failed to turn up. Desperate to save the story
from being cancelled, she ran home, got her camera and took some shots. The
Independent published her article with her photographs. Enjoying the thrill
of taking the photos to match her story, Lyndsay then worked regularly as a
photo-journalist for the broadsheets.
Next, because of
her mad diversity of ideas and sharp delivery, Lyndsay was offered the job
of ‘drive time’ producer with new national station Talk Radio.
Marrying a fellow
producer from the station, she left to take the role of Editor to launch The
City Player Magazine – a glossy quarterly aimed at high flyers in the
City. This entailed hard graft, combined with travel abroad and lots of
glamorous assignments. But after a year, Lyndsay had had a baby girl,
Tippi. The decision to stop was easy. She wanted to be with her child
full time.
Lyndsay’s career
diversified again when they moved to Kingston, Surrey and Tippi went to
primary school. Not keen to return to the pressurized world of journalism,
as a sideline Lyndsay dressed Tippi and her friends children up in fairy
costumes and took magical photographs - before long she had a created a
business taking professional family portraits and shots for photo libraries.
Then a second
major twist of fate occurred.
About the same
time, Lyndsay wanted to find a picture for her kitchen but failed to find
the right art to suit the room. So, feeling inspired from the visual
success of her photography, she painted her own still life.
To her surprise,
visitors often asked who the artist was, and where they could get a similar
painting. Demand grew, and selling over twenty five art works within her
first year, Lyndsay was picked up by an art agent. Exhibitions soon
followed - but with it, a need to learn more, fast!
Enrolling on a
local art course, her tutor encouraged her to try drawing an illustration.
She penned an image of sprites climbing into a tree. That same night, she
asked her daughter to help her think of a magical tale to go with it… Tippi
(then aged 7) came up with the story of a Hobgoblin stealing the thread of a
rainbow to make a magical cloak...and The Rainbow Weaver was born.
In summary, from
her early twenties to her late forties, Lyndsay has successfully enjoyed
crossover careers in advertising, acting, radio, journalism, scriptwriting,
art and photography, before moving into a new field as author/illustrator.
The Rainbow
Weaver
was released Autumn 2007.
Lyndsay’s first
adult novel Fat Chance has now been released and is available at all
leading bookstores. Published by
Old Castle Books
www.russellgallery.co.uk
(photography)
www.russellartist.co.uk
www.therainbowweaver.com
www.alamy.com
(photography) |
