How does a young Italian artist and illustrator from Tuscany end up having an exhibition in a Hay-on-Wye bookshop over the Hay Festival?

Derek Addyman and Anne Brichto have three shops in Hay-on-Wye and have occasional art exhibitions in their largest shop, Addyman Books in Lion Street.

Their son who works for a public relations firm in London has been encouraging them for years to be active on social media. This January he managed to get his mother Anne, who is 53 and had for years avoided Facebook and loathed Twitter, hooked on Instagram.

Through this she has developed friendships with booksellers and librarians across the world. After posting some books by Charles Addams, creator of the Addams Family, she noticed a like and a comment from @stefano_tambellini and after going through his account and watching some of his animations, became a fan for life. There are many very excellent illustrators, she stated, but only a handful of these have an ability to create a whole new world of their own – Edward Gorey, Mervyn Peake, John Tenniel, Ernest Shepard, Pauline Baynes and Charles Addams are examples and I believe Tambellini is another such artist. We offered him space here and are so happy that he has agreed. He is even making the journey from Italy to Wales for the first two days of the festival and will be available on the opening night to sign postcards and prints and talk about his work.

Stefano Tambellini lived and worked in London for five years and his work has been published by Bloomsbury, Harper Collins, Workman Publishing and Rizzoli. The exhibition at Addyman Books include some of his illustrations for Terry Deary’s Shakespeare Tales, published by Bloomsbury along with a few illustrations, pre-publication, from the magnificent “Frightlopedia” written by Julie Winterbottom, which is a compendium of all things scary and will be out in the US soon.

Stefano Tambellini was born in 1983 in a small Tuscan town, famous for its medieval bridge called The Devil’s Bridge, which is another loose connection with Wales. His main influences are Gorey, Peake, Addams, Shigeru Mizuki and Joann Sfar. He lives with a grey cat Mandragola (Mandrake in English) and has a passion for the dark, the weird and the supernatural.

The exhibition starts on Friday 27th May and people are invited to Addyman Books, 39 Lion Street, Hay-on-Wye at 7pm for a glass of wine and a rare opportunity to meet the artist.

You can catch up with Addyman Books on Instagram @addymanbooks and see their daily #booksellersbreakfast and #booksofinstagram postings.