Award-winning Writer-Illustrator William Joyce to Lease Office Space at Centenary College, Share Time and Talent with Campus Community

 SHREVEPORT, LA -- Writer-illustrator William Joyce is collaborating with Centenary College in an arrangement that will bring Joyce's business operations to campus and allow students access to the best-selling author and Emmy Award winner.

By April 1, Joyce and his staff are expected to move into specially renovated offices occupying the entire second floor of Centenary's Peters Building.  The leased offices will include innovative and adaptable studio space, conference rooms and office areas in a space that covers approximately 3,400 square feet.  
 
"We are delighted that Bill Joyce has decided to stay in Shreveport.  His presence here will offer many benefits to our community and our campus," said Centenary President Kenneth L. Schwab.  "The kind of work he does is exciting and innovative. We are fortunate to have access to the creative talent his organization brings to our campus.  Bill Joyce is a wonderful resource for Shreveport and the college community."

Schwab said that Joyce has agreed to support the educational goals of the college by sharing his time and talents with staff and students in the form of lectures, in-house demonstrations, office tours, employment opportunities and internships as his production schedule allows.

The multi-talented Joyce, who juggles assignments on the East and West Coasts, is a native and lifelong resident of Shreveport.  For more than a decade, he has written and illustrated award-winning children's books.  He has illustrated numerous covers for The New Yorker magazine, has co-written and produced the feature film, Buddy, and has seen his works adapted for stage and displayed in art galleries across the nation.  He won two Emmys for his popular children's show, William Joyce's Rolie Polie Olie, and he contributed his creative expertise to the feature film world by creating conceptual characters for such films as Toy Story and A Bug's Life.  Joyce's second television series, William Joyce's George Shrinks, is part of the PBS Bookworm Bunch and has recently been selected to air daily in the fall of 2002.  

Known for his distinct and striking drawings and imaginative story-telling, Joyce has produced a number of best-selling children's books, including Santa Calls, Dinosaur Bob, Rolie Polie Olie and The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs.  New books released this past fall were a deluxe edition of Santa Calls, as well as numerous board books in the Rolie Polie Olie series, including Sleepy Time Olie and Stick or Treat, a Rolie Polie Olie Halloween sticker book.

Joyce also recently contributed to Little Lit:  Folklore and Fairy Tale Funnies, a collection of comic strips from various artists, and Oz: The Hundredth Anniversary Celebration, a collection of stories and art celebrating the inspiration of The Wizard of Oz.

Joyce is a graduate of Southern Methodist University, where he studied filmmaking and illustration.

Renovation of the previously unfinished second floor of the Peters Building is being coordinated by Shreveport architect Mike McSwain of Slack, Alost and McSwain.  The Peters Building is adjacent to Centenary's Meadows Museum of Art and houses the college's Admissions offices and the Jack London Research Center on the first floor.

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