While on a family holiday in Cornwall the five-year-old Kieron Williamson was bought a drawing pad and crayons to fill the time when he wasn’t playing by the sea. His parents describe what happened next: “The following morning we assumed Kieron had gone to watch TV but an hour or two later, he returned to show us his picture page filled with sky, sea and boats. We were amazed...”.

And so was the rest of the world. Kieron’s story has since become an international sensation and now, in his tenth year, this young artist continues to amaze those who see his paintings.

The growing public acclamation of his artwork, the media interest that greets each new exhibition, and the clamour by collectors to own pieces of his work, have in turn led to this book.

Coming to Light, as the title suggests, traces the development of the artist, providing many examples of his work from the earliest days to the present time. But it also attempts to provide the reader with the background story to how a mother and father came to terms with bringing up a child within a family unit, a child-genius who prodigious talents attract the world’s attention and considerable financial reward.

This is Kieron’s story. In Coming to Light Michelle Williamson, Kieron’s mother, writes with great honesty and sensitivity about her child’s prodigious talent as a painter, and of the joys and difficulties of being a parent both nurturing and protecting her remarkable offspring.

Alongside her husband, Keith, the couple have faced intense world-wide media scrutiny and constant clamour from a public whose interests in Kieron’s paintings have shaped the family’s life, springboarding them from the normality of a close-knit family unit into the glare of fame, fortune and celebrity.

Few readers will be left untouched by Michelle’s account of the pressures brought to bear when a six-year-old son suddenly becomes the focus of the world’s attention. Here, supported by writings of those who have also been caught up in the phenomenon that surrounds Kieron, including artist/mentors and gallery owners, a loving mother tells the inside story of how the family have learned to deal with early pressures and doubts, maintaining a happy and stable family life with their young child genius.

Imprint: Halstar. ISBN 978 1 906690 39 7, hardback, 235x258mm, 144 pages. Published July 2012.