A ST Dogmaels woman has had her debut poetry collection published but has special reason to feel proud – the artwork for the book cover was designed by her daughter.

‘Sliced Tongue and Pearl Cufflinks’ by Kittie Belltree was recently released by Cardigan-based publishers Parthian – but what made it extra special for Kittie was the contribution of 17-year-old daughter Lia.

“Lia is a very talented artist so when Parthian asked for my thoughts on the cover for my book, I immediately knew that I wanted her to produce the cover image,” said Kittie, who teaches at Aberystwyth University.

Lia, who is who currently studying art, drama and English at Pembrokeshire College, started coming up with ideas back in April and worked alongside her mum on the stunning design for ‘Sliced Tongue and Pearl Cufflinks’, which explores broken connections of self, family and home.

“I love being creative and have always doodled. However over the past few years I have taken my skills further by producing digital illustrations,” said Lia.

“I drew a picture of Wednesday Adams which mum really liked and thought it would be clever to incorporate something similar within the illustration. I also wanted to create a clever way to portray the title of the book, so combining the two came naturally.

“The sliced tongue is portrayed with a snake because for obvious reasons their tongues are split or in the title of the book’s case, ‘sliced.’ With the book exploring dark times in life I also wanted the book to have that almost haunting look and feel about it.”

And Lia’s design not only impressed mum Kittie but also publishing bosses at Parthian.

“Parthian were so impressed by the striking picture that my daughter created that they then asked her to produce an image for another book, Heartland,” said Kittie.

“This is an anthology of winning poems and short stories from the Penfro Book Festival competition and I was lucky enough to be included in this as well.”

“It still hasn’t sunk in that my artwork has been published and will be in the public eye,” added Lia.

“Both books are beautiful in their own right and the fact that Parthian Books liked my style of illustrating has really improved my confidence. I hope one day to start up my own business and become a multi-media artist. I am really excited for what the future holds.”

Kittie will be a special guest reader at the Cellar Bards event at the cellar Bar, Quay Street, Cardigan, on Friday, February 28, at 8pm alongside her editor at Parthian, poet and prose writer Susie Wildsmith.