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Irish-born Niamh Sharkey obtained a first class honours degree from the College of Marketing and Design in Dublin. Her talents were soon acknowledged with a Student of the Year Award from the Society of Designers in Ireland and she has gone on to win not only the Mother Goose Award for Best New Illustrator in 1999 for The Gigantic Turnip and Tales of Wisdom and Wonder, but also the Bisto Award that same year.
Her technique of working with oils on a gesso-textured background contributes to her individual style and vibrant use of colour seen in all of her books. Niamh has published with Barefoot Books and now writes and illustrates her own picture books with Walker Books, titles include The Ravenous Beast, Santasaurus and I'm a Happy Hugglewug which won The Scottish Highland Picture Book Award in 2007. Niamh has also designed sets and costumes for the theatre. I'm A Happy Hugglewug is being developed into a pre-school animation series with Brown Bag Films.

Niamh is seen here at the gallery during her solo exhibition for the recent publication of Cinderella