Emma Magenta
Artist, Writer & Filmmaker
Emma was born in Sydney in 1972 and began her career drawing and writing her thoughts down on brown paper bags while working at Berkelouw Books in Sydney. After pinning them to the front window on busy Oxford Street, they accrued a cult status and an International publishing deal was offered to her.
Her first book, The Peril of Magnificent Love was awarded by The Australian Book Association and nominated for the prestigious Reuben Award by The National Cartoonist Society in The U.S.A and she went on to publish two other illustrated books for adults. A Gorgeous Sense of Hope and The Origin of Lament through Random House Australia. She wrote and illustrated her first children’s book in 2008 titled ‘Orlando on a Thursday’ and illustrated Toni Collette’s children’s book titled Planet Yawn the following year.
In 2011, Emma created an animation series with Hopscotch Films for The ABC titled The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch, based on a book she had written in 2010. Written and directed by Emma and narrated by Toni Collette, the series debuted to rave reviews and is the first multi-platform project (inter-active website, iPhone game, graphic novel, animation). The series was nominated for SXSW Award, involved in a series of global Film Festivals and nominated in the Best Cross Platform category at the 2012 AIMIA Awards.
Following this series, Emma developed a project called ‘The Waking Heart’ with Based on Birds and was invited to be a guest speaker and showcase this project at TEDx Canberra 2011.
Emma has written her first short film, Remembering Agatha which will continue into a T.V series for The ABC.
Emma Magenta’s work is in numerous private collections around the world and her style is born out of using her left hand instead of her right to draw.
