Mother Marshall

31st October 2024

Save the date, Mother Marshall is on her way!

Mother Marshall's Make-Believe Menagerie will be available to purchase from Thursday 31st October and to pre-order from 31st May 2024.

She's been on her journey for 4 long years but she's finally on the home stretch and that cosy cottage and glowing fire are almost in sight.

Here's to all the women and witches that have whispered their stories to me, I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have enjoyed creating them!

The Story So Far...

...and How You Can Be Part of It!

Mother Marshall's Make-Believe Menagerie is an illustrated book for all ages.
This is a story for the child I was, when I realised Princesses weren't always the most interesting heroines and that just sometimes, the witch had all the best stories.

Pre-ordering a first edition of Mother Marshall will ensure you receive a signed copy of the first print run which is limited to 250 books.

The first edition will be a simple, folded and stapled on spine edition, with a soft card cover.
£10 will ensure your signed copy, with the option to pay £25 and receive a limited edition A4 Art Print and a Mother Marshall Eco-Friendly Tote Bag.
All pre-orders will be fulfilled by 30th November 2024.

£10 / £25 / £50

SHOP.

Welcome to my Weird World of Wonder!

Pull up a chair, I'll get the kettle on and we can talk books, art and all things weird and spooky...

And yes, I love an illiteration, can you tell?

Commissions

When I'm not busy documenting Mother Marshall's midnight walks I occasionally have the time to create art for some wonderful people.
If you would like to feel wonderful,
get in touch!

Mother Marshall's
Make-Believe Menagerie

Arriving, just as she should, on 31st October 2024 the very first edition
of Mother Marshall's Make-Believe Menagerie is an illustrated
story book for all ages.
Preview will be available very soon.

Art Prints

First two are now live, a limited range of feminist prints featuring Mother Marshall, The Bride, Madge the Queen and Frida!

At Wee Bit About Me & Mother Marshall

About the author (The Offical Bit Wrote In The Third Person)

Fe Duncan has worked as an artist, illustrator and graphic designer for almost 40 years. She has spent a lifetime bringing other’s visions to life and has now, finally published her first, very own illustrated book.
With a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Sunderland and an MA in Illustration from Falmouth University she continues to create content for local businesses and musicians. She is also the lead vocalist and lyricist in acclaimed punk band Slalom D. She focuses a feminist lense on all her work, writing and illustration and is particularly interested in the female storytellers of folklore and horror.

The Personal Bit (Written Like The Diary Of The Fourteen Year Old Goth I Still Feel Like I Am)

Mrs Marshall was my maternal grandmother and Miss Marshall was my mam and auntie's maiden name. I am however very fortunate to have grown-up surrounded by story tellers on both sides of my extremely creative and sometimes bizzare family.

They knew I was an artist long before I realised it myself and I now have a lifetime of collecting and creating to draw upon. Who knew that the kid that spent their whole existence been at odds with 'not fitting in' would eventually be tbe singer in a fantastic band, writing lyrics for 3 albums, design the cover art and, to top it all off, fulful their dream of being an author and illustrator? Not this kid!

This book and hopefully my future books are a culmination of years of all those childhood stories coming together and the realisation that sometimes the 'baddie' of the tale just needed someone to hang out with.
Maleficient had her crow, Elphaba had her monkeys and what witch would be without her black cat?

And that's what comes from a lifetime of ghost stories, monster films, not fitting in and a later diagnosis of ADHD...
...a huge curiosity for all things weird, wonderful and wickedly womanly!

Whatever happens next, I can tell from the fumes bubbling up from the cauldron, it will be absolutely delicious!

Thank You's & Acknowledgements

Far too many to mention but these are the people who have earned a special brew from the cauldron.

My first book is dedicated to the real Mother Marshalls in my life, my mam Sandy, and Aunties Laura and Sheena.Also to my dad Bob, baby brother Gav, all the Duncans, Joanna and Fiona. Gaynor, Bob and Joan. Elizabeth, Deborah, Gemma and Kelly and to the next generation, Melissa, Jen, Ruby, Issy and Layla

Thanks to Cata at Sunderland Literacy Aid, Dan at Media Savvy and Simon at The Book Sanctuary. My friends Helen and Darren Pike, Lynn, Graham and Emily Watson, Mikey Tynemouth, Oonagh and Paul and Klur Wallace. Thanks also to my fellow artists Joanne Elliott, Margaret and Lesley. And to my band mates Iain, Goober, Gaz and Tone.

This has been a work of love that was only possible with the support of these wonderful people and a whole lot more, way too many to mention here unfortunatley. I am forever grateful to everyone who has supported me help get Mother Marshall home.

And one last dedication and thank you. The most important one. To Roy Robinson, dad to our three renegade cats, El Cid, Mad Mo and Ma-Boo

and the best partner in grime an old witch could wish for, I promise not to write another for a least a week! Love you to the fridge and back x

Sunderland Literacy Aid

Having been diagnosed late in life (53) with Adhd and Autism I was faced with a whole new world of challenges and an understanding of the barriers I realised, I had faced throughout my life.

I have written and illustrated from a very young age but always struggled to bring any ideas to a satisfactory conclusion. Now with the support and advice of Sunderland Literacy Aid I have completed my first book, written and illustrated in full and now in print.

Sunderland Literacy Aid have provided support, physical space and the opportunity to further my practice and provided positive motivation to ensure my book has stayed on course whilst still allowing me to work to my own schedule.

I genuinely would not have achieved this significant goal without their consistent and holistic assistance. Nothing has been too much trouble, they know when to step back and when to give extra help where needed. Thanks to Sunderland Literacy Aid I am now in the process of planning my next books, something which a year ago would have been unthinkable.

Thank you!