Rosie on the Island

Illustration: Karen Runge
Text: Monika Helfer

Rosie on the Island

Book design: Verena Hochleitner

Rosie wants nothing more than to be a writer. With her friends Ruta and Loisl, she travels to an island where she writes down everything she wants to put in her story: a mysterious dog transformation, an encounter with Babalú Ayé and Santa Barbara, and a cathartic dance among the white caps of the sea. Maybe some of it is made up, but so what?
In her picture book debut, Karen Runge has illustrated a story written by multiple-award-winning writer Monika Helfer.

Karen Runge : »Monika Helfer’s text got me right away – it conjures up so many images and stories, so I had lots of fun illustrating it, as I kept forging associations with my own experiences and ideas. In the process of illustrating the book I looked for inspiration in old photographs I took on a trip, and went through my boxes of paper cutouts hunting for suitable elements. I also tried to find the right combination of colors and mixed media, which I love to use – including acrylics, colored pencils, ink, and gel pens – to convey a sense of the magic and the bubbly imagination of the text.«

Look inside

Contact info