THE TOGETHERNESS TEAM
Author Beth Wilson
When Beth was a little girl, she fell in love with children’s books and dreamed of becoming an author like Beverly Cleary or Laura Ingalls Wilder. At the age of 53, she woke one night with a rhyme in her mind. She got out of bed and within 40 minutes, TOGETHERNESS TOWN was written. With the encouragement of her 11 year-old son, she decided to bring the story to publication.
Beth knew she needed a professional artist to create the illustrations for the story, but how does one find an illustrator? She found Bekah Grace on a Facebook group and after a long phone conversation, she knew Bekah Grace was the illustrator she needed.
Beth has had many roles in her life – mother, teacher, wedding coordinator and nurse assistant. Today she is fulfilling her childhood dream and it is completely satisfying. She hopes this is just the beginning of writing stories for children.
Illustrator Bekah Grace
Bekah grew up in Bolivia, where she started creating art as soon as she could hold a pencil. In 2015 she began studying Fine Art at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, and in 2016 she illustrated her first children’s book for a local author. She continued to take on projects like this on the side before moving to England in 2019, and in 2020 she took the plunge and began illustrating full-time.
Although Bekah has been living in England for almost 5 years, she loves working with US-based authors like Beth. Working with Beth was like working with an old friend – a blessing through and through. Togetherness Town is a story with just the right amount of sweetness, sharing the values that Bekah always loves to promote through her work.
As the project came to a close, Bekah knew just the right person to bring it all together and format the book – her talented, insightful, and all around lovely friend Marit. Together, their teamwork really did make the dream work.
Bekah’s website: BekahGrace.co.uk
Designer Marit Cooper
Marit is an illustrator and designer who also makes websites. She studied “Multi Media” design at the turn of the millennium. This was before there was broadband and cascading style sheets and you had to put web pages on CDs if you wanted them to be interactive! She divides her time between illustration and surface pattern design, using a combination of digital and traditional media.
Marit lives in the Heart of England in a Victorian red brick house with her husband Paul and two cats, Willow and Bilbo.
In her free time she grows her own vegetables, bakes rustic breads and reads a lot!
Marit’s websites:
Marketing Specialist Julianne Wiggins
At the age of 14, Julianne decided she wanted to run social media platforms professionally. With this desire, Julianne began to run social media platforms for friend’s small businesses, and later on pursued a degree in Business Marketing. With this experience, Julianne started her own business after 2 years of running her college’s social media platforms for its events. Julianne is a longtime friend of Beth’s and is passionate about sharing the message of Togetherness Town!
In her spare time, Julianne can be found painting, scrapbooking (her favorite hobby), cooking, or running. Julianne enjoys living in the mountains with her husband and doing ministry alongside him at their local church.
Julianne’s website:
Togetherness Town Books
Togetherness Town Books tells stories that help to build loving communities, where life’s challenges are overcome through faith, family, and friendship.