Weirdo Goes Wild

Zadie Smith (Author) 
Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW and Swing Time; as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia; three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free and Intimations; a collection of short stories, Grand Union; and the play, The Wife of Willesden, adapted from Chaucer. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People. Zadie Smith was born in north-west London, where she still lives. The Fraud is her first historical novel. 
 
Nick Laird (Author) 
Nick Laird was born in Northern Ireland in 1975 and was educated at the University of Cambridge and Harvard University. He has published two novels, Utterly Monkey and Glover's Mistake, and three collections of poetry, To a Fault, On Purpose and Go Giants. He has also edited Zoo of the New: Poems to read Now, an anthology of poetry, new and old, alongside Don Paterson. 
Laird is the recipient of many awards for his fiction and poetry, including the Betty Trask Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, he teaches Creative Writing at Columbia University in New York. 
Twitter: @NickLaird 
Website: nicklaird.com 
 
Magenta Fox (Illustrator) 
Magenta Fox was born in south-west London in 1994. She studied English at the University of Exeter and since moving back to London in 2015, has been working as a children's book designer. These days she works freelance - illustrating, writing and designing children's books from her flat in south London.

One of the Observer's Best Children’s Books of 2024 
 
A warm and endearing story about the quiet power of being yourself from Zadie Smith, Nick Laird and Magenta Fox. 
 
Maud - a judo-suit wearing guinea pig and proud weirdo - is off into the wild, as is Kit, her owner. Both are slightly nervous about what they'll find in the great outdoors, but with a pinch of bravery - and a few Signature Moves - they'll make new friends and explore new worlds. 
 
Praise for Weirdo: 
"A sweet, tightly written tale about the benefits of not fitting in, cheered on by Magenta Fox's gorgeous illustrations" The Times’ Best Children’s Books for Summer 2021 
"As cockle-warming as a cuddle from a favourite pet, Weirdo ought to be a smash hit" Observer 
"it's delightful" the i

Weirdo

Meet Maud: a guinea pig who inexplicably wears a judo suit - and not everyone understands or approves. When Maud is thrown into a new and confusing situation, it takes brave decisions and serendipitous encounters for her to find her place and embrace her individuality. 
 
The charming characters of Magenta Fox, whose work is evocative of Raymond Briggs and Janet Ahlberg, perfectly offset Zadie and Nick's warm, wry prose. 
 
Weirdo is an endearing story about the quiet power of being different by two veteran writers, and introduces an exciting debut illustrator. Together they have created a picture book that adults and children alike will treasure.

Zadie Smith (Author) Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW and Swing Time; as well as a novella, The Embassy of Cambodia; three collections of essays, Changing My Mind, Feel Free and Intimations; a collection of short stories, Grand Union; and the play, The Wife of Willesden, adapted from Chaucer. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People. Zadie Smith was born in north-west London, where she still lives. The Fraud is her first historical novel. Nick Laird (Author) Nick Laird was born in Northern Ireland in 1975 and was educated at the University of Cambridge and Harvard University. He has published two novels, Utterly Monkey and Glover's Mistake, and three collections of poetry, To a Fault, On Purpose and Go Giants. He has also edited Zoo of the New: Poems to read Now, an anthology of poetry, new and old, alongside Don Paterson. 
Laird is the recipient of many awards for his fiction and poetry, including the Betty Trask Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, he teaches Creative Writing at Columbia University in New York. 
Twitter: @NickLaird 
 Website: nicklaird.com Magenta Fox (Illustrator) Magenta Fox was born in south-west London in 1994. She studied English at the University of Exeter and since moving back to London in 2015, has been working as a children's book designer. These days she works freelance - illustrating, writing and designing children's books from her flat in south London.

Meet Maud: a guinea pig who inexplicably wears a judo suit - and not everyone understands or approves. When Maud is thrown into a new and confusing situation, it takes brave decisions and serendipitous encounters for her to find her place and embrace her individuality. 
 
The charming characters of Magenta Fox, whose work is evocative of Raymond Briggs and Janet Ahlberg, perfectly offset Zadie and Nick's warm, wry prose. 
 
Weirdo is an endearing story about the quiet power of being different by two veteran writers, and introduces an exciting debut illustrator. Together they have created a picture book that adults and children alike will treasure.

Magenta Fox

As if to prove the versatility of felines in children&rsquo;s literature, it&rsquo;s a kind granny cat in a red waistcoat and yellow wellies who saves her grandson from being overwhelmed by a &ldquo;storm-cat&rdquo; of feelings in Fox&rsquo;s sweet tale. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t choose our weather,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;but we can choose what we make of it.

A first-time feelings picture book

We can't choose our weather, but we can choose what we make of it. 
 
Arwel is having a fine day. Yes, his sister has gone off to school for the first time, leaving him alone, and yes, there's a cloud above his head. But he is fine, really he is... 
 
But the cloud grows, looms, gets in his way - until Arwel has to admit: there's a Storm-Cat outside and it's waiting for him! 
 
But after a spectacular storm comes the comforting calm in this special picture-book debut from the illustrator of Zadie Smith and Nick Laird's Weirdo.

Magenta Fox

Praise for Storm-Cat

As if to prove the versatility of felines in children’s literature, it’s a kind granny cat in a red waistcoat and yellow wellies who saves her grandson from being overwhelmed by a “storm-cat” ...

Books by Magenta Fox

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