When you were a child did you have an imaginary friend? Did something live in your closet or under your bed? We may grow up but we never forget those night we huddled under the covers seeking refuge from shadows and trembling with both fear and excitement. Illustrator Meghan Killen has taken her childhood fantasies and distilled their essence into a new children’s series following the adventures of Ruby Winkle as she searches for a cure to her insomnia.

“Ruby Winkle is a tale about a young girl who tirelessly searches for sleep. Through a series of mishap inventions, imitations and insight, Ruby soon discovers that the best solution for sleep is surprisingly the simplest. “

I spoke with Meghan to find out more about how Ruby came to live inside her head.

“Ruby Winkle was inspired by my fascination with the unexplained be it a ghost or a clue. Growing up, I fell in love with Raymond Chandler and the whole film noir environment. As a child, I would spend summers at my grandmother’s house.  Adorned in my grandmother’s assortment of gaudy rings and draped in a colorful assortment of over-sized shawls, I would carefully pen any number of aliases into a ledger sprawled across the dining room table. I was always “on a case” as a child and it’s no surprise that I ended up working for a private detective at one point in my life.

The character of Ruby Winkle is not only drawn to simple things that she can’t explain (such as her lack of sleep) but she also has the tendency to over complicate the things in her life. Lack of sleep suddenly takes on a entirely new world that demands contraptions, inquiries and serious investigation.”

Meghan is in the process of self-publishing Ruby Winkle (no mean feat!) with the intention of developing her into a detective series for children.  I love to see talented people getting their work out there and changing their own destiny. 

Perhaps for Meghan, Ruby’s missing dreams will lead her to realising her own.