|
THE AUTHORJameeleh Shelo is a native Chicagoan and proud Southsider. Jameeleh wrote Laith the Lion because she wanted her son to have a positive representation of his culture.
Jameeleh is an Emmy award-winning writer, producer, and performer. She attended Columbia College (Chicago) where she earned a B.A. in Television Writing and Production. This degree gave her the skills necessary to become a waitress. Since no one would trust her to handle food she became a TV producer. As a creative outlet she began doing improv, sketch and stand-up. She has performed with Second City's Brown Co., improvised at iO and Annoyance theater, and performed her one woman show, My American Cousin at UCB, Magnet and PIT in New York City and at Silk Road Theater, iO, and Second City in Chicago. She is also a regular at the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. Jameeleh is very lucky to have interned and worked for some very funny people in her career. She interned at Late Night with Conan O'Brien and worked for Stephen Colbert, Lisa Lampanelli and Cedric the Entertainer. If you ask any of these people about her they will pretend to remember her. In addition to that, she has produced for TBS, Comedy Central, HGTV and DIY Network, Harpo, TLC. Jameeleh is the former Executive Director of the Chicago Palestine Film Festival and believes that all people have a right to share their narrative in any media they see fit. She wants to thank you all for taking time to read this and will now go back to sharing her narrative via macaroni necklaces. |
|
THE ILLUSTRATORSara McMullin is an illustrator and writer who has written for PBSkids. She is also the creator of The Center Town, The Misadventures of Sea Cucumber Man, Willow, and the Stupid Pillow comic. As a child Sara’s mother gave her the option of either theater and art classes or a Bat Mitzvah. She chose the former and a love of storytelling was born (along with a few unexpected bedroom wall murals to her mother’s dismay.) With the aide of her big family she develop her talent for storytelling and her visual style. She honed her craft during college as a part time camp counselor, using her skill at storytelling and art to entertain her campers. Sara also took Arabic as a second language in college and discovered her artistic sensibilities helped her master arabic calligraphy. After college Sara developed an interest in performing comedy, improv, and sketch. This led her to Second City Chicago, where she studied, performed and worked. It was there she met Jameeleh.
Sara believes every kid should have a storybook they can relate to. Laith not only tells a great story about imagination and far away places, it teaches kids and adults about the Palestinian Culture. Sara’s favorite kids' books are Calvin and Hobbes, The Carp in the Bathtub, and the Ramona series. She still loves creating fantastic visual tales for her nieces and nephew and is always ready with a pencil and paper. Sara also mixes her comedy background and love of art for the adult world, under the name Stupid Pillow. A name that stems from a think tank exercise where someone asked “What else can you use a brick for?”. Sara said “ A stupid pillow.” To which the director smiled and said: “I like the way you think.” Stupid Pillow/Sara enjoys creating “lifestyle” comics, humorous “Reject Greeting Cards,” Branding art for small businesses, and more. You can see her work on Instagram and Facebook. |
