Meet Us.
Nellie Talbot-Pughe and Brian Pughe are a kid lit husband-and-wife team based in Glen Gardner, NJ. We both write, draw, and tell bad dad jokes.
More about Nellie
Nellie grew up in a small town in Virginia.
Her mom was an elementary school librarian, and after spending hours and hours there every day after school, the library became a second home. She fell in love with storytelling and has been creating ever since.
Her mixed media illustrations are comprised of hand-cut paper. She loves creating her own color palette by painting on various found papers like maps, sheet music, and dictionary pages.
Aside from being in her studio, Nellie loves hanging out with her cat, traveling, playing the piano, and drawing funny pictures with Brian. She still loves spending time in the library and volunteers at her local branch.
More about Brian
Brian grew up in Rhode Island.
If you thought you’d never know anyone from that state, well you do now. His childhood dream was to travel on horseback to his remote cabin in the woods, where he would write stories all day long. While he still doesn’t own a horse (or even know how to ride one), his love for writing never died.
After years working as an industrial designer, Brian brings his love for sketching into his children’s illustrations. He enjoys working in kid lit because drawings become more than just lines and color on a page; they bring out laughter, playfulness, and imagination.
When he’s not working, Brian loves running, playing the latest Zelda video game, tennis, and volleyball. He also enjoys drawing funny pictures with Nellie. It sure would’ve been awkward if he didn’t say that too.