“The Princess and the Frog” writer Rob Edwards is readying to bring another magical story of connection to the animated world. The filmmaker will next write, direct, and produce an animated film version of “Brown Sugar Fairies: Saroja’s Quest,” the celebrated children’s book written and created by Aiysha Sinclair, with art by Joyceline Furniss and published by Stranger Comics. Sinclair will also produce alongside Stranger Comics President Sebastian A. Jones.
Edwards is best known for writing a pair of animated films for Walt Disney Feature Animation: the Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated “The Princess and the Frog” and the Academy Award-nominated “Treasure Planet.” In 2022, he directed his first film, the short “The Park Bench,” and in 2025, Briarcliff Entertainment will release his feature directorial debut, the original animated film “Sneaks.”
Per today’s announcement, Sinclair’s book follows “the story of Peppa, an inquisitive ten-year-old girl who becomes best friends with a flower fairy named Saroja. The fairy is on a quest to find the sacred Lotus flower and return it to her Enchanted Land before her magical world is destroyed. When Peppa’s grandfather takes ill, she has a difficult choice to make — to help her newfound friend save her home or use the last of its power to cure her grandfather. This is a story of compassion, bravery, and the magic of friendship.”
“Aiysha has created a community in the world of fairytales and is known for being a true pioneer of the Black Fae movement through her books and dolls,” Edwards said in a statement. “Stranger Comics is known in both the comic and children’s book industry for its diverse heroes and backdrops in afro-fantasy inspired settings with emotional themes that resonate universally on a deeply human level. With my experience in animation and love of the story, the collaboration was inevitable.”
Edwards is also a television veteran, including stints writing and producing on shows like “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Full House,” “A Different World,” “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” “Roc,” and “In Living Color.” In addition to his film and television work, Edwards is an adjunct professor of screenwriting at the School of Cinematic Arts at USC and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, where he also serves on the SUMA Advisory Council.
Edwards is repped by David Fox of Myman Greenspan Fox Rosenberg Mobasser Younger & Light LLP; Jones is repped by WME and the law office of Bradly Garrett.
