Anne Sawyer - Author and Illustrator
Anne Sawyer navigates the glorious, raggedy edges of life through art and the written word. She has worked as a puppeteer, stilt-walker, and arts educator for the past twenty-odd years. Her previous written works include a play (Children and Other Optical Illusions) and two books for children: Nalah and the Pink Tiger and Nalah Goes to Mad Mouse City. Anne also has found great fulfillment teaching visual art to adults with disabilities at Lifeworks Day Centers in Brooklyn Park and Eagan, where she was the arts facilitator from January, 2017 until the lock-down of March 2020. At that point, Anne flirted for 15 episodes with a podcast called A Woman With a Very Large Knife, which she plans to revisit in 2021. Mars on Life, a picture book for grown-ups, teens and tweens, is her most recent work. And while Anne lives in Powderhorn at present, she cut her teeth on the West Bank, working at Global Village, and waiting tables six days a week in a cafe where the Hard Times Cafe rules now.
Mars on Life is inspired, in part, by David Bowie’s question: “Is there life on Mars?” It speaks to that otherness we all feel from time to time, and how we seek meaning, joy, and connection.
Mars on Life is a locally printed, signed, first edition (hardcover) picture book for grown-ups, teens and tweens.
“A sweet little book with huge heart and beautiful art,” says Brent Warnock, Publisher and Editor of Kitchen Table Publications.
$16.95 + $4.99 shipping. Or contact author to arrange local pick-up option available.
Nalah and the Pink Tiger is a picture book for children. Anne drew inspiration for this story from her lively little niece, who lives so intensely in her imagination that grown-ups around her view her as a troublemaker. Things come to a head when – in addition to all the exotic animals that Nalah has “placed” in the house – a pink tiger “follows” her home from the zoo and creates havoc. The story also celebrates the joyful explosiveness of a child’s imagination.
"Anne has found a way to contain her vibrant performance creativity between the covers of a book. Open any page and you'll hear the story calling your own imagination to stretch as wide as Nalah's!" —Debra Frasier, Author & Illustrator of On the Day You Were Born
$13.95 + $4.99 shipping. Or contact author to arrange local pick-up option available.
One day Nalah finds herself bored and lonesome because all of her imaginary friends have gone away on vacation. But wait – not all. Mad Tooth, the little mouse who lives in her sock drawer, is still busy munching away on her knee-highs. When she finds out why Nalah is sad, she offers to take her down through the sock drawer into a mouse metropolis. The result is a tale of wild dancing, cousins, taffy, and a sock monster.
“A wonderfully illustrated, not-too-serious story.” —-Kirkus Reviews
$13.95 + $4.99 shipping. Or contact author to arrange local pick-up option available.