Cardiff Artist Writes Surf-Inspired Fiction, Creates ‘Kook’ Magnets

Cardiff artist Janet Lee grew up in a small village in Yorkshire, England — a far cry from the beach town she now calls home.

“I wasn’t into all this sunshine and laid back culture, but it’s grown on me,” she jokes. 

It’s grown on her so much so, in fact, that our beach culture served as a main inspiration for a children’s book she recently authored.

The fiction work, Millennium Knight, is a fantastical tale of Calder, a young surfer who is transported to the 15th century English village of Thornhill, the same place Lee grew up. Through this time travel, Calder is able to live parallel lives — surfing waves in our modern-day seas one moment, and then battling as a medieval knight the next. Throughout his adventures, the young boy learns about overcoming obstacles in life, like peer pressure to fit in.

“The book is about being okay with yourself, even if that means not fitting in,” Lee says, adding that she also aims to teach kids about history in her book, which she illustrated and tailored to kids ages 8 to 12.

Readers may also recognize some of the local scenes Lee describes in her book, like beaches and nearby lagoons. Much of the dialogue and theme was also pulled from Lee’s own experiences while raising her two sons in Cardiff. She began writing the book several years ago when her youngest son was about 11 years old, the same age as the main character in the book.

“[My youngest son] would come in and make a comment and I’d write it into the book because he’s hilarious,” she says. “Ultimately, I hope readers take a positive message from this book. That’s why I wrote it.”

But Cardiff has inspired Lee to do more than just write.

After locals started dressing up the ‘Cardiff Kook’ statue, Lee was inspired to pay homage to the local tradition via a line of novelty magnets.

Put one of these ‘Cardiff Koook’ magnetic cutouts on your refrigerator and you can adorn it with all sorts of wacky props, much like a paper doll. Staying true to Cardiff culture, many of the props are pulled from actual past pranks.

“I really liked the Mexican wrestler costume from the early days, so I had to include that,” explains Lee of her line of magnets, which hit the market about a year ago and are now sold at the campgrounds, Leaping Lotus in Solana Beach, and the California Surf Museum in Oceanside. 

Lee is a longtime printmaker, painter, and muralist who has been commissioned by St. James Hotel, Croce’s, Sea World, and Aviara Four Season, just to name a few — and indeed, fiction writing and novelty magnets are new territory. But after more than 20 years in Cardiff, both ventures felt like a natural progression, she says. 

Lee says she’s never actually dressed up the ‘Cardiff Kook’, but if she were to do it, what sort of wardrobe would she pick? Well, that’s easy.

“I’d have to dress him up as Calder, my surfer knight, of course.” 

Millennium Knight will be available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com by mid-January.

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