The New Neighbours

About Sarah McIntyre

Sarah first captivated young readers and revolted parents with her illustrations to Morris the Mankiest Monster, a story by Giles Andreae which defied all expectations after 12 years of being turned down by 15 editors and refused by 10 publishers. She then turned her picture book skills to making comics and charmed both children and adults with the madcap antics of best friends Vern and Lettuce, a sheep and a rabbit who live in a tower block in a neighbourhood very much like Sarah's own patch in south London.

Born in Seattle in the USA, Sarah studied Russian literature at Bryn Mawr College. She worked at a newspaper in Moscow, moved to London and ran an art gallery with friends in Camberwell, then went on to study Illustration at Camberwell College of the Arts, where David Fickling discovered her, halfway through her course.

While Sarah is currently crafting several picture books with David Fickling Books, she loves being part of the small-press comics scene, where she gets to see fresh material being assembled by people with only a printer and a stapler. She would love to see more children self-publishing their own comics this way.
Mixing with other comics creators gives a tremendous boost to Sarah's work, and she's very proud to have been a member of the original team that created the DFC, a weekly comics magazine. In that hugely talented group, she met some of her best friends... and some of them weren't even imaginary.

She now shares a studio with three friends in an old police station in Deptford, south London (complete with cells!). They call it The Fleece Station, since the original three members all met while drawing comics about sheep.

Sarah has joined forces with storyteller Philip Reeve to create a fantastic new adventure story, Oliver and the Seawigs, about a boy called Oliver, who is searching for his missing parents. Sarah's stunning illustrations bring this quirky adventure to life..."you could happily get lost for hours in one Sarah’s pictures – of underwater worlds and amazing creatures."   Click here to see a video of Sarah talking about this new collaboration.