MARJORIE VAN HEERDEN’s 2013
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Children’s Book Writer and Illustrator - Co-RA SCBWI (South Africa) -
For Marjorie 2013 was another very busy year. It started with her finishing the illustrations for a picture book she had started in 2012, Grandma Lim’s Persimmons written by Sunita Lad Bhamray and published by a Malaysian publisher, Oyez!Books, an imprint of Integra MajuJaya Media in Malaysia.
For Marjorie 2013 was another very busy year. It started with her finishing the illustrations for a picture book she had started in 2012, Grandma Lim’s Persimmons written by Sunita Lad Bhamray and published by a Malaysian publisher, Oyez!Books, an imprint of Integra MajuJaya Media in Malaysia.

Grandma Lim’s Persimmons (ISBN:
9789670481074) was released in May 2013,
in time to be launched at the AFCC (Asian Festival of Children’s
Content) in Singapore.
Marjorie
illustrated the chapter book, Blossoms
of Scarlet, a fantasy story written by Kiara Soobrayan and published by
Maskew Millar Longman. The inside illustrations are in monochrome and the cover
in full colour.
In
2013 Marjorie was commissioned by NB Publishers to design and illustrate
characters for their new interactive online application store, Storierak (“Story Shelf”), for the electronic
downloading of Afrikaans language children’s books.

Every
year the Centre for Comic, Illustrative and Book Arts (CCIBA) at the University
of Stellenbosch’s Department of Visual Arts offers a series of creative
workshops during Spring Break; in 2013, for the fifth consecutive year, Marjorie
was invited to facilitate the 5-day Children’s Book Illustration Course as part
of this series. She also offered and facilitated two 2-day courses and
workshops for children’s book illustrators during the year: In July The Fundamentals of Drawing and in
November Visual Background in Children’s
Book Illustrations.
In
2013 the City of Cape Town’s libraries department launched a reading campaign
aimed at young readers in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and they
used some of Marjorie’s illustrations for their campaign, on the posters, the library
cards, pamphlets, bookmarks etc. (Note: The children’s book library and
reading area filling the basement of the Cape Town Central Library has
wall-papered all its walls with blown-up copies of a selection of Marjorie’s published
children’s book illustrations (see below). This newly-renovated library, located next to
the City Hall and the Grand Parade in downtown Cape Town, is definitely worth a
visit for any booklover coming to the Fairest Cape.)
A great highlight of 2013: In October Marjorie, as Co-RA for SCBWI (SA) with Elaine Ridge, the other Co-RA, and the committee members organised the SCBWI (SA) TURNS 10! celebrations. A conference, a celebration party and a series of review sessions for children's book writers and illustrators were held on 1, 2 and 4 November to celebrate the SA Chapter’s 10th anniversary – Marjorie started the South African Chapter of the SCBWI in October 2003.
A great highlight of 2013: In October Marjorie, as Co-RA for SCBWI (SA) with Elaine Ridge, the other Co-RA, and the committee members organised the SCBWI (SA) TURNS 10! celebrations. A conference, a celebration party and a series of review sessions for children's book writers and illustrators were held on 1, 2 and 4 November to celebrate the SA Chapter’s 10th anniversary – Marjorie started the South African Chapter of the SCBWI in October 2003.
The children’s book library and
reading area of the Cape Town Central Library