'The Mumblyjunk is both a creature and a feeling' (From Times Series)

Former Golders Green musician and artist Joanna Wallfisch pens her first children's book, The Mumblyjunk

10:34am Thursday 10th January 2013 in Freetime By Rosy Moorhead

It all begins, as good stories do, In a place invitingly far from view.
Where things occur that perhaps should not;
A place where the words “what if” were forgot.
So, com with me now, I’m inviting you in, Let the tale of the Mumblyjunk begin...

So begins the story of The Mumblyjunk, the first children’s picture book from former Golders Green musician and artist Joanna Wallfisch.

“The Mumblyjunk is a creature but it’s also a feeling,” explains the 27-year-old, who is currently in New York working on her music and other writing projects.

“I was inspired when I moved to New York in September and lived in an apartment in a basement with no windows – I survived about three nights and then left. But I was thinking about those three days and I just started writing, it was mainly a stream of consciousness, the words just came out of the blue. I asked: if we lived in a world underground without windows how would we know if it was day or night, or how a raindrop sounds?”

Joanna illustrated the book herself, as well as its two follow-ups, The Noise Machine and The Apple Tree. She studied fine art for four years at university and has been illustrating her poems and stories her whole life.

“My artwork has always been very narrative which made fine art a bit tricky,” she admits. “I adore etching and Victorian satire, those dark but beautiful and very intricate images. Over time, my drawings became very sketchy and impressionistic, with a lot of expression and emotion in them.”

• To order a copy of The Mumblyjunk, contact Joanna at mumblyjunk@gmail.com. Details: www.mumblyjunk.com