Marcia Williams

Marcia Williams is a highly successful, prize-winning author and illustrator who has published over thirty books in her distinctive, entertaining and accessible comic-strip style. Her many awards include UKLA Children’s Book Award and The English 4-11 Picture Book Award. Her books are extremely popular in schools for their humorous and approachable way of introducing the classics to a young age group.  Now a popular author and illustrator, British-born Williams has brought the classic stories she recalls from her own childhood to life for young children: from Sinbad, the Sailor and Robin Hood to Noah and the animals and the gods of Greek mythology, people from many ages and cultures live for modern readers through her tales.

From Bible stories, Williams has also moved to the myths of Greece she recalled from her childhood. In the highly praised Greek Myths for Young Children, she introduces youngsters to the timeless stories of Pandora’s Box, Hercules, Daedalus and Icarus, Arachne, and the Minotaur, among others. Using a lighthearted tone to dilute some of the tales’ darker moments - such as Icarus being drowned in the sea after flying too close to the sun. The author continued her lighthearted approach in her retelling of Homer’s epic stories in The Iliad and the Odyssey.

Williams employs a style of illustration called “comic-strip” style, wherein inked drawings tinted with a watercolor flow from scene to scene along a linear “strip,” with captions printed below and “bubbles” within each picture providing additional dialogue. This style grew out of her desire to communicate with young readers on more than one level. Text and illustration remain equally important to Williams.