I.G. Oliver Books in Order

Start at the beginning: Part 1
Read the full four-part arc: Part 1 → Part 2 → Part 3 → Part 4
If you already know the setup: Part 2 → Part 3 → Part 4

I.G. Oliver is a British author and illustrator who writes magical fantasy that starts out kid-friendly and grows into bigger, myth-driven adventures. He’s based in Derbyshire, and he’s also spent much of his working life in hospitality as a chef and educator.

He was born in rural Northamptonshire and grew up with three siblings. In his own bio notes, he finished school in Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, while living in the nearby village of Elmsthorpe in the parish of Blaby.

A serious motorbike accident became a turning point. Afterward, he moved to Ticknall, Derbyshire, stayed there with his parents, and trained at Wilmorton Catering College. From there he built a career in hotels and restaurants that eventually carried him overseas.

His chef work took him to a mix of private and embassy roles, including a period in the early 1990s as an executive chef and manager at the British Embassy in Moscow. He has said he helped oversee catering for Queen Elizabeth II’s state visit to Moscow in 1994, and that he received an award of recommendation in the Kremlin from the Queen and Prince Philip. After returning to England in 1997, he spent the next decade working for Lord Heseltine near Banbury.

Food was his day job, stories were the thing he kept on the back burner.

The push to publish came from home. He’s shared that his daughter asked for a brand-new bedtime story, so he made one up, wrote it down, and drew the illustrations, he was 51 at the time. That tale became The Butterfly Bee Lady and the Bee, first released in 2017, introducing Belliza, a former dragonfly queen transformed into the first butterfly, and Bramley, a bee pulled into a fight over a strange first magic tied to living pollen.

He still thinks in pictures.

Oliver has long painted and sketched in his spare time, and he leans on that habit when he writes. He draws his own characters, shares early concept art, and uses illustrations to keep younger readers anchored in the world, even when the story veers into big, strange ideas.

Oliver followed with The Butterfly Bee Lady - Part 2, shifting the spotlight to Belliza’s daughter, Bree, as she steps into danger, meets new allies, and starts to understand what the Maragic is doing inside her. He later revisited the story again as the four-part arc It’s A Kind Of Maragic (Parts 1 to 4), a version that begins like a fairy tale and steadily leans older, with deeper lore, darker threats, and higher stakes that reach beyond the insect world.

Across the books, you’ll see the same touchstones: friendship and found family, small creatures facing outsized problems, and the idea that nature has a balance you can’t ignore forever. He also threads in real-world details about ecosystems and life cycles, using fantasy as a way to nudge curiosity about how the natural world works. These days he’s still based in Derbyshire, balancing hospitality work with writing and illustration, and inviting readers to look closely at the world under their feet.