Louisa Popiolek
 Devon, United Kingdom Email: mischiefmuckandmagic@yahoo.co.uk
Home page: http://www.mischiefmuckandmagic.moonfruit.com/
Louisa has studied Fine Art Practice at undergraduate level and holds a Master of
Arts in Writing for Young People. She loves to write fiction for young people and
young adults. She explores sweeping themes from life, death, the universe and
everything. She is currently working on a fantastical fiction series for 9-12 year olds
(and intelligent adults). It is currently being read by one UK/USA agent (February
2010).
Waterstones’ Search for a Children’s Author Runner-Up 2006
'...such a wonderful story from a unique and eccentric talent. An enormously happy
book with dark, uncompromising twists. There really is no better message for
children. She is a writer who shows flashes of brilliance and crazed genius.'
Sophie Gorrell-Barnes MBA Literary Agent 2005
The Fantastic Borderland of Things (40,000 words)...
The story is set in contemporary London. It is told over eight days (seven days of
creation plus one extraordinary day). It explores the fantastical reality of one girl
growing up in the 21st century. Amelia Firebrand is ten-and-three-quarters.
Surrounded by miserable commuters, toxic food, celebrity culture, and the
sensational reporting of crimes, death and wars, she cannot think of a reason why
she should ‘grow up’.
In case one person decides to blow up London, she wears a bright yellow crash hat
at all times. It reflects against her dark skin like a buttercup. What Amelia doesn’t
know is that she has a soul. It is as old as the earth and from a Fantastic place.
Reborn into the wrong life, it is lost, lonely and confused.
She isn’t normal like the other children at school. Amelia hears and sees the Truth
In All Things. In London, clouds creak to rain. Raindrops wheee with delight.
Gutters glug to drink. Wheelie bins fart and belch. And beneath the cold concrete
paving slabs Amelia hears a sad, slow rhythmic thud. London’s heart is dying. Only
Amelia can save it.
Her quest to find the Truth, leads her to discover that the Prime Monster and his
Monsters of Parliament have been stealing the Wonder of England and its children
with the evil WonderCrusher. Amelia Firebrand sets about overcoming them.
Finding magical secrets hidden in the Silence all around her, she is able to, setting
both herself and the children of London free with the help of some very unusual
friends.
Her story is about personal freedom and rebellion. Most of all, Amelia discovers
that it is not who loves you that makes you who you are, but who and what you
love.
'...Popiolek wrote in an idiom I found truly different to anyone else’s work. And her
passion for the compulsive strangeness of Lewis Carrol found a good echo in her
novel. Her work is very quirky, and it is very challenging to try to find a modern
equivalent of that kind of surreality. She has the imagination to succeed.'
Rosemary Canter, United Agents Literary Agent 2008
'My greetings to Amelia Firebrand. I hope that the sky never falls on her head!'
Phillip Pullman 2007
'I couldn't not read Angel. Like Schindler's List, I had to read on. I could not look
away.'
Tim Bowler 2009
Endearing Influences:
William Blake. Maurice Sendak. Tove Jansson. David Lynch. Mark Haddon. Lewis
Carroll. Heinrich Hoffmann. Roald Dahl. Tim Burton. Hiyao Miyazaki. Philip
Pullman. Edward Lear. And the wild wild shores of her own imagination.
Manuscripts to date:
The Fantastic Borderland of Things........................40,000 words
The Source and Origin..........................................100,000 words
Into the Roof of the World......................................40,000 words
The Stranger Adventures of Millicent Magnet...........60,000 words
Spaceboy Jack....................................................45,000 words
Synopses, Extended Synopses, Resume and Sample Chapters available on
request.
Below please find attached several samples of Louisa's range of fiction (click on
title to read). Both third-person omniscient and first-person narratives in a range of
voices/styles/techniques and targeted age groups.
Published writer: Yes
Freelance: Yes |
