About A. R. Curry

We’re all friends here, so call me Curry, which is technically my last name, but as far as I’m concerned, my first, middle, and last!

Here’s the thing. Back in 2002 (a gazillion years ago), when I first arrived at Lake Michigan College on a basketball scholarship, I was already known in the sporting community by the name people read in the sports section of the newspaper:

Curry

To say it’s stuck would be an understatement… Most of my social profiles say, “Curry C. Curry”! 😉

With that said, I’m a happily married (my wife’s AMAZING!), father of five, who loves to get creative. I’ve been writing for adults since my early twenties; and writing for kids since somewhere around 2010 when my oldest two blessings were just toddlers. Interesting tidbit, my father– good ol’ Dadio– made the very deliberate decision to hold me back in the first grade because I struggled with reading… I now have a library in my house, a bachelor’s degree in English, a couple semesters of an MFA program in Creative writing, and a dozen or so (and growing!) books under my belt. Thanks Dad!

When I began writing picture books, it was because I wanted to encourage a love of reading in my own children. I wanted to foster that love and help ensure they received a healthy diet of entertainment on a daily basis, and I can confidently say, “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!”

Coming up with picture book ideas was “easy”, it was the artwork that posed the problem. Ultimately, I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle of hiring illustrators. I simply didn’t want to relinquish creative control or wait however long it would take them to complete their portion of the workload, annnnd, to be frank, I couldn’t afford professionals either…

So, I began illustrating my own books out of necessity, but I’m glad I did. I discovered that I truly enjoyed it, and I’ve relied on how therapeutic it is ever since.

Make no mistake about it though, I’m well aware that there are far better illustrators out there, and that I have a LOT to learn. I often suffer from imposter syndrome, and I often get frustrated by my own (current) limitations. Still, I enjoy the process and challenge of learning new creative skills immensely, so I don’t see myself hiring illustrators anytime soon.

Although I’ve spent this past decade writing and illustrating books, I’ve recently turned my attention towards creating tabletop board games. I’ve always—well, since 7 or 8— wanted to be a game designer, I just didn’t know how. At first, I’d simply write down all my ideas, mainly for video games. Then I started snatching up empty boxes to use to store my homemade board games in. It wasn’t until the pandemic that I learned about The Game Crafter and discovered a wealth of possibilities!

That’s the gist of it. I know, I know. This isn’t a typical bio, but I like to do things my own way. Besides, that’s part of the perks of being an indie creator. For better or worse, I get to call the shots. 😉