Julie morstad biography

Written by Heather Maxwell Hall.

Julie Morstad is an award-winning illustrator and fine artist known for her surreal, whimsical work. She’s one of my favourite local artists and the children’s books she’s illustrated are among my son’s favourites, including When You Were Small and Where You Came From. Julie’s work is shown in galleries and she’s animated music videos with her brother (like this amazing one they did for Neko Case). She lives in East Vancouver with her family.

I asked her a few questions about what it’s like to be an artist and mother of three.

How would you describe what you do?

I draw. I illustrate and write children’s books, do editorial illustration and show in galleries. I also sell prints of my drawings through my site. I can sometimes be found at Emily Carr teaching a class in the Illustration Program.

How many kids do you have and how do you manage the balance between being an artist and a mom?

I have three kids: Jake is 15, Henry is five and Ida is three.

I have a rad husband who is super supportive in general and makes it possible for me to ge

L. M. Montgomery Institute

The biography House of Dreams: The Life of L. M. Montgomery, written by Liz Rosenberg and illustrated by Julie Morstad, is advertised as "the first for young readers to include revelations about [Montgomery's] last days and to encompass the complexity of a brilliant and sometimes troubled life." Here, Rosenberg and Morstad discuss their creation process.

Liz Rosenberg is a poet, best-selling novelist, professor, and writer of numerous acclaimed books for children. She has edited several poetry anthologies for young readers, including Light-Gathering Poemswinner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Prize. She lives in Binghamton, New York.

Julie Morstad is the illustrator of numerous books for young readers, including When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano and Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

First, Rosenberg chatted with me about what it was like to write and research the biography.

Michaela Wipond (MW): What compelled you to write a biography of Montgo

Julie Morstad

Canada

Julie Morstad is an illustrator, artist, animator and designer, whose clients include Chronicle Books, Drawn & Quarterly, HarperCollins, Random House and Warner Bros. Records. Julie won the Alcuin Book Design Award and the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, and she was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award.

In this post, Julie talks about the creation of ‘Swan’. This exquisite picturebook biography about the world-renowned Russian prima ballerina, Anna Pavlova (1881–1931) was written by Laurel Snyder and published by Chronicle Books.

Visit Julie Morstad's website

Julie: When I first read the lovely manuscript for ‘Swan’ by Laurel Snyder, I nearly jumped for joy.
I had been interested in Pavlova from the time I was a young child in ballet classes. I had not yet done a picturebook biography and was so excited (and a bit nervous) to take it on.

In addition, I immediately had very strong visual images spring to mind for the text. When that happens it’s a good sign for me, in terms of the process of visualising a story. The writi

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