A Cwmbran woman who wrote and illustrated a children’s book has had it published.
Hannah Roper, from Llantarnam, is the author of The Horse and The Zebra by Bumblebee Books, available here on Amazon.
She told Cwmbran Life: “It is all been a bit of weird one. I trained in drama and musical theatre at the Royal Welsh College in Cardiff.
“I’ve always liked to write things. In uni we did a Halloween show and I wrote Halloween-style verses for people to do. Then I started to think of children’s stories.
“The idea of characters started coming into my head and it snowballed from there. I’d get a snippet in my mind. I started to build it around that.”
The mental health nursing student sent the manuscript to a few publishers and had some interest.
“Initially I wasn’t able to continue with it as I didn’t have illustrations,” she said.
Hannah got some software, learned how to use it and created the characters. She got back in in touch with a publisher.
“I said ‘I’ve done it myself are you still interested?’ They said ‘yes’.
“It was a bit of back and forth as their designers worked on the structure. I was in uni one day and had an email to say ‘your book has been published today’.
“I didn’t realise it was happening so quickly.
“I kept it really quiet to start with. I had no idea, what or if anything would happen, so didn’t say anything.”
She shared the news on Facebook and had congratulatory messages and comments from friends and family.
“It was all in my head for so long. I had a note on my phone with odd lines that I thought could be good.
“I’d love it if it could end up as a series. I’ve got a couple of other characters.
“It has an underlying message to it as well. There is something they can learn from it as well.”
She had twin boys, aged two and a half.
“They love books and they know it as ‘mummy’s book’. We’ve got a niece as well, and it’s one of her favourite requests as well.”
Find The Horse and The Zebra on Amazon
Click here to find Hannah’s book on Amazon.