Meet the author

Jessica Goecke.

Writer & illustrator · United States

Jessica Goecke: American author-illustrator whose debut Billy and the Hole is a deadpan-macabre picture book about a boy and a flattering talking hole, for ages 4-8.

Jessica Goecke is an American writer, illustrator and graphic designer whose debut picture book, Billy and the Hole (2026), announces a distinctive deadpan-macabre voice. In it, a boy befriends a talking hole beneath his favourite tree - a flattering, cold-voiced hole whose requests grow steadily larger and stranger until Billy must take matters into his own hands. Atmospheric, gently menacing and laugh-out-loud funny, it is a sly little parable about flattery, greed and knowing when to say no, pitched at readers who loved the creepy comedy of Jon Klassen's The Skull. A promising new author-illustrator for ages 4-8 who likes a shiver beneath the giggles.