Hi, my name is Nyah Stanfield. I'm the author and illustrator behind Discovering the Garden, my first book. I'm twenty years old now, and though I started this project around 2021, it's been developing since my childhood. 

I was homeschooled– it was a wonderful experience for me. My parents were intentional about helping me grow in creativity and imagination. A lot of my creativity has flowed from time spent outside. My mom and I spent a lot of time exploring– one thing we liked to do was collect bits of nature to make beautiful artworks. My dad started the tradition of camping trips– I especially enjoyed backpacking. I loved feeling like I was a real wilderness explorer, and I always brought along my edible plant field guides. To this day, I still love the adventure and peacefulness that comes with camping. I also love being outside by myself, when I have space to think and notice beautiful things. When I'm walking or exploring, I feel close to God, and I have little moments where I feel like God sees me and I feel him close. During these times, I feel more alive– I am reminded of hope and beauty and God's kindness in the little wonders I see. 

I have always loved using my imagination. I started drawing when I was young. You’ll notice the kitties in my book– my mom taught me how to draw them when I was little, and I adopted them as my own. I have so many drawings from my childhood with these kitties. I loved dressing them in fun outfits and adding tiny details to my drawings. The characters I drew went on all sorts of adventures– traveling, exploring nature, and traveling through different times in history. I loved going on adventures in my imagination, too. One of my favorite games to play was called Rainbow Socks– my mom and I would put on colorful socks and pretend we were traveling the world. I devoured books, and I loved listening to the adventure stories my dad told me. I loved being brought into the imaginative, beautiful worlds these stories held– tales of friendship, exciting escapades, mystery and adventure. Stories like these are one reason I was inspired to write. When I was little, I wrote poems and stories for fun, and created silly plays with my grandmother. As I grew older, I started writing chapter stories. I've always connected to storytelling where characters go through real emotions and hardship, and overcome. They experience redemption, and discover and grow into who they're meant to be. 

All of these experiences have helped inspire my illustration and writing. I would love people to learn how to look at life through a lens of curiosity and hope. I’m learning that when I look at life through a perspective of heaviness or anxiety, it weighs me down and stops me from seeing the beauty around me. Many of the poems in my book are themed around overcoming the challenges of fear and discouragement, and the hope that can spark to life when we take time to notice the beauty all around us.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy the book. 
Nyah Stanfield