AnnickPress

Eugenie Fernandes’ memories of her childhood are full of the wonder of animals and nature. “I draw children in bare feet as much as I can, because that’s me—frogs in my pocket and starfish in my hair!” laughs Eugenie. “I love warm beaches and turquoise water,” she admits, “and I’d rather do trees than buildings.” She looks back to her childhood to locate the inspiration that led her to become the successful writer and illustrator she is today. “My father, a comic-book illustrator, had his studio overlooking Huntington Bay in Long Island. I had my own desk right next to his, where I spent much of my youth.”

When Eugenie graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, she began designing greeting cards and knocking on publishers’ doors with her portfolio. Before long she was submitting stories with her art, which led to the publication of her first book.

In the 1980s, Eugenie wrote and illustrated a number of Little Golden Books. One of her first books published in Canada was the acclaimed A Difficult Day (Kids Can Press). Since then she has worked on several projects a year and now lays claim to over 80 books, including several Annick titles. She is most proud of Just You and Me (1993), a story she wrote that was brought to life with three-dimensional illustrations by her daughter, Kim. 

Eugenie's, A Cat Adrift (2002), is about Teelo the Cat who finds himself drifting farther and farther out to sea until he is rescued by young Lilya and her grandfather in their wooden sailboat. In A Seal in the Family (1999) Teelo discovers an abandoned seal pup on the shores of Cloud Island. A Cat in a Kayak (1998) introduced Teelo to his new friends on Cloud Island and was reissued in 2005.

Eugenie and her husband, Henry, also an illustrator, have two children, Kim and Matthew. Eugenie, who has lived in places as diverse as New York City and a thatch hut in the South Pacific, now lives beside a lake in Ontario. She works in a glass studio surrounded by her favorite things: trees, birds, brushes, water, frogs, sunshine, snow, her family, and there is never a dull moment. Yesterday, there were otters sliding along the ice and diving into the water to catch their lunch while she ate her lunch snug and warm in a puddle of sunshine.

She can usually be found at home, except when she is off traveling to warm destinations by the sea. In her free time, she paints ... and has been exploring the wild and wonderful world of non-objective painting, “visual poetry” ...