Norwich NUA student Madison Gilyatt's rainbow-inspired book

My Popsi who Lives in the Rainbows, by Madison Gilyatt, is a children’s book which explores the death of a grandparent.

Madison, who studies at the Norwich University of the Arts (NUA), came up with the idea after a comment from three-year-old Mila.

Madison Gilyatt, pictured with her father Paul, who died in 2016 (Image: Madison Gilyatt)

Aged two at the time, the youngster started asking questions about her grandfather who she never had a chance to meet.

Madison, 23, said: “I was walking her to school and she saw a rainbow, and absolutely out of nowhere she was like ‘is that where Popsi lives?’.

“I really like the idea that out of her little two-year-old brain she got this idea that people who passed away went into the rainbows.”

Madison Gilyatt studies at Norwich University of the Arts (Image: Madison Gilyatt)

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Madison’s father, Paul Gilyatt, died due to cancer in 2016 so she wrote the book to help others teach their children about loss. 

Paul passed away at just 45 years old when Madison herself was only 16. 

The family were living in Essex at the time but moved to Norwich after Paul’s death. 

Madison Gilyatt's daughter Mila with her mum's book My Popsi who Lives in the Rainbows (Image: Madison Gilyatt)

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Madison is a final year BA Fine Art student at NUA and both wrote and illustrated the entire book in her studio space on campus. 

She continued: “I think unless you experience it you don’t really get it and a lot of kids, especially kids who haven’t met their grandparents or are young when they pass, they don’t really get a grasp of what it means for someone to be gone. 

“They can’t understand that someone’s just there and then they’re not. I think personifying it in a way helps with that.” 

My Popsi who Lives in the Rainbows, which has been published independently, is available to buy online including from Amazon.