Meet the author

John Chalmers.

Writer · United Kingdom

John Chalmers: Scottish half of the Metaphrog duo, whose Ghibli-tinged graphic novel Wilomina spins a full-colour quest through a world of dreams and nightmares, for ages 8-12.

John Chalmers is a Scottish comics author who, with illustrator Sandra Marrs, forms the award-winning duo Metaphrog. Writing while Marrs draws, the pair have built a body of graphic novels including the Louis series and lush fairy-tale retellings. Their middle-grade adventure Wilomina: The Land of Dreams and Nightmares (2026) sweeps a girl into Nocturna, a shadowy parallel world where dreams and nightmares are born, as she races to find her family and escape before the darkness turns her into a monster. Inspired by Studio Ghibli and Labyrinth, it is a richly imagined, full-colour quest about courage, family and fighting the monster within. A distinctive graphic-novel author for ages 8-12.