The Fliers Of Gy

I entered the Folio Society Book Illustration Awards again this year as it's always a rewarding creative challenge to take on. The chosen book was Ursula K. Le Guin's short story The Fliers of Gy and the brief was to create one illustration based on a passage of your choosing from the set text. The book is about a society of feathered human beings of whom a select few grow wings and face persecution if used to openly take flight.

I worked on two illustrations and chose the first one to submit, titled 'Love Letter' and based on this passage - 'Lovers exchange feathers with which to write love letters to one another, a pretty custom, referred to in a famous scene in the play The Misunderstanding by Inuinui.'

The second un-submitted illustration was based on this passage - '...I turned around and there I had the full run ahead of me, clear across the market-place to the Assay Office. And I ran, and I took off.'

The longlist was announced this week and unfortunately I didn't make it this time but huge congrats to the excellent illustrators who were selected, all fantastic entries. You can see my entries for previous Folio Society book illustration competitions here.