Charles Vess at Hollins!

One of the wonderful things about Hollins is that all of the faculty for the MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating program are working illustrators, and friends with tons of other illustrators. Case in point, Ruth Sanderson recently welcomed a surprise visit by her dear friend, Charles Vess.You may know Charles from the many, many works he illustrated for both Neil Gaiman and Charles de Lint. Although his most recent accomplishment was to illustrate the collection of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series - all in one gorgeous book!Charles did a talk for our students and shared the process of working with Ms. Le Guin. I especially loved the little 'logo' he did for her - her insignia, the thistle, which has become my insignia as well. Best of all, our students got to meet Charles, enjoy his many books that were on display, and see a sneak peek at his forthcoming picture book. (I wasn't sure if I could share those yet, so you'll just have to wait to see them!)Charles and his wife hung out for two days and Charles even attended our faculty critique group on Sunday night. What a treat for all of us!!