Jessie Sima
Jessie Sima is an author and illustrator of picture books. They grew up in a small town in southern New Jersey and now write and draw in a creaky house in New York State. When not making books, Jessie can be found reading graphic novels, watching spooky movies, and playing outside with dogs.
Visit them online at jessiesima.com!
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Andrew Larsen
Andrew Larsen is a father, homemaker and author. When he was a child, he would spend a part of every summer with his grandparents at their cottage on a hill, by a lake. Andrew now lives in a downtown Toronto neighborhood. He has published three picture books with Kids Can Press and one with Fitzhenry & Whiteside. He is married with two children.
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LeUyen Pham
LeUyen Pham is the illustrator of many books for children, including God’s Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams, The Princess in Black series and Aunt Mary’s Rose by Douglas Wood. LeUyen Pham lives in California.
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Esmé Shapiro
Esmé Shapiro is an award winning children's book illustrator based out of Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in Laurel Canyon, California and Ontario, Canada. A graduate of The Rhode Island School of Design, Esmé is a past recipient of both the Nancy Lee Rhodes Roberts Scholarship and The SILA West 53 Gold Award-Phillip Hayes Scholarship. She has previously written and illustrated Ooko, which was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award in 2016, as well as Alma and the Beast, which received two starred reviews, and, most recently, Carol and the Pickle-Toad. Esmé also illustrated Yak and Dove by Kyo Maclear and Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton by Margaret McNamara. She has exhibited at The Society of Illustrators, and he
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Hannah Barnaby
Hannah Barnaby is a former children's book editor and indie bookseller, and was the first-ever Children's Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library. Her debut young adult novel, Wonder Show, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and her second novel, Some of the Parts, received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly. Hannah makes her double picture book debut in 2017 with Bad Guy, illustrated by Mike Yamada, and Garcia and Colette Go Exploring, illustrated by Andrew Joyner. Hannah lives in Charlottesville, VA with her family.
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Marcie Colleen
Marcie Colleen is the author of numerous books for children, among them Love, Triangle; Penguinaut!; The Bear's Garden; and the Super Happy Party Bears chapter book series. Forever a New Yorker, she now lives in San Diego, California.
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Loveday Trinick
Loveday Trinick is a marine biologist with the Ocean Conservation Trust. Based within the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth, England, she teaches children of all ages about the importance of the ocean; she believes seeing children inspired by animals and creating connections to the marine environment is the best way to help conserve our oceans for future generations. She lives in England.
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Edwina Wyatt
Edwina Wyatt worked as a lawyer and as a high-school teacher before becoming a writer of children’s books. Her books have earned numerous awards, including two Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Books. Sometimes Cake is her first book with Candlewick Press. She lives with her family in Victoria, Australia.
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David Elliott
David Elliott is the author of THE COOL CRAZY CRICKETS and THE TRANSMOGRIFICATION OF ROSCOE WIZZLE. He says of AND HERE'S TO YOU!, "My neighbor’s rooster and I were having a disagreement. I wanted to sleep in the morning; he wanted to crow. The rooster won, of course. The first verse of AND HERE'S TO YOU! is a tribute to his victory and to the joys found in simply following your nature."
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Vicki Johnson
Vicki Johnson's debut picture book Molly's Tuxedo illustrated by Gillian Reid and published by Little Bee Books (June 27, 2023), garnered multiple accolades: 2024 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children Recommended Book, a CBC Top Ten Teacher Favorites Awards selection, 2024 ALA Rainbow List Selection, and a 2023 Ontario Library Association Top Ten 'Best Bets' Picture Books selection among others. Johnson's second book with the same creative team, Mac Wears a Hat, is available for preorder now. It releases April, 2026.
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Born and raised in rural GA, Johnson is a first-gen graduate of Smith College and Emory Law School, and also studied in the Writing for Children & Young Adults MFA program at VCFA. Follow her on Insta, T -
Jacqueline Wilson
Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath in 1945, but spent most of her childhood in Kingston-on-Thames. She always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was nine, filling in countless Woolworths’ exercise books as she grew up. As a teenager she started work for a magazine publishing company and then went on to work as a journalist on Jackie magazine (which she was told was named after her!) before turning to writing novels full-time.
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One of Jacqueline’s most successful and enduring creations has been the famous Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in 1991 in The Story of Tracy Beaker. This was also the first of her books to be illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Since then Jacqueline has been on countless awards shortlists and has gone -
Betty MacDonald
MacDonald was born Anne Elizabeth Campbell Bard in Boulder, Colorado. Her official birth date is given as March 26, 1908, although federal census returns seem to indicate 1907.
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Her family moved to the north slope of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood in 1918, moving to the Laurelhurst neighborhood a year later and finally settling in the Roosevelt neighborhood in 1922, where she graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1924.
MacDonald married Robert Eugene Heskett (1895–1951) at age 20 in July 1927; they lived on a chicken farm in the Olympic Peninsula's Chimacum Valley, near Center and a few miles south of Port Townsend. She left Heskett in 1931 and returned to Seattle, where she worked at a variety of jobs to support their daughters Anne -
Laura Murray
Laura Murray was a teacher before becoming an author, is a popular speaker at schools, and has had to deal with many an escaped Gingerbread Man in her day. She is the author of THE GINGERBREAD MAN LOOSE IN THE SCHOOL, and the Gingerbread Man’s continuing school adventures - THE GINGERBREAD MAN LOOSE ON THE FIRE TRUCK, THE GINGERBREAD MAN LOOSE AT CHRISTMAS, and THE GINGERBREAD MAN LOOSE AT THE ZOO (2016). This humor-filled, rhyming series was inspired by a Gingerbread man that managed to escape her classroom every single school year. Her first book won the 2014 Virginia and Illinois Reader's Choice Award, and was nominated for 7 other state awards as well; is a Junior Library Guild Selection; a Florida Children's Choice Award Honor book; an
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Lucy Branam
Lucy Branam lives and writes in Jacksboro, TN. She is a young writer who hopes that as she ages, her bio will get longer and more interesting.
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She is the author of the picture books Roof Octopus (2018) and Monday (2021), both from Sleeping Bear Press.
Aside from writing, Lucy also enjoys art and is a graphic designer for a non-profit. Sometimes she goes for runs. Often she reads. But she is always daydreaming. -
John Canty
John Canty is an artist, designer, and writer. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.
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Jillian Tamaki
Jillian Tamaki is a cartoonist and illustrator living in Toronto. A professional artist since 2003, she has worked for publications around the world and taught extensively in New York at the undergraduate and graduate level. She is the co-creator, with her cousin Mariko Tamaki, of Skim and This One Summer, the latter of which won a Caldecott Honor in 2015. She is the author of the graphic novels SuperMutant Magic Academy, originally a serialized webcomic, and Boundless, a collection of short comic stories for adults. Her first picture book, They Say Blue, was released in 2018.
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Blanca Gómez
Blanca Gomez started creating illustrations for her mother when she was a kid. Now, she illustrates for clients around the world. Blanca lives and works in Madrid, Spain.
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Colleen Larmour
Colleen Larmour is an illustrator and designer with a master’s in children's book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art in the United Kingdom. She lives in Northern Ireland with her husband and two daughters.
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Vera B. Williams
Graduate of Black Mountain College, North Carolina, where she majored in graphic art. In her own words, she has "done graphic art, school teaching, children-raising [she has two daughters and a son], has run a bakery and been a cook in schools and restaurants." (from back flap of book)
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Vera B. Williams is the winner of the 2009 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature.
You can read much more about this author here or here -
Steve Jenkins
Steve Jenkins is a Canadian realtor. In 2012 he and his partner Derek Walter adopted what they thought was a mini pig, who turned out to be a full-sized commercial sow. Since then, Esther the Wonder Pig has become a social media sensation and the couple has opened Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary.
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Kurt Zimmerman
Kurt is a father of seven, and a step-father to five. He enjoys writing books and crafting stories for and about his own family. He has also spent many years writing newsletters and policy manuals for a chain of retail hardware stores, where he is currently vice president and director of operations. In his spare time(?) he makes public apprearances with his full-sized Star Wars R2D2 replica, entertaining children and grownups alike.
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Devin Elle Kurtz
Devin Elle Kurtz lives in San Diego, California, with her dog, Kira, and her thirty-three houseplants. She’s been painting in Photoshop since the age of two when her artist mom first offered her a tablet pen. She was the lead background painter on the TV show “Disenchantment” at Rough Draft Studios from 2019-2021. The Bakery Dragon is her first picture book as an author-illustrator.
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Cale Atkinson
Cale Atkinson is an illustrator/writer/animator currently residing in Kelowna Canada.
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Believing in tea more than sleep, Cale is constantly working on numerous projects. His work can be found in children’s books, animated shorts, television, and games.
Publishers Cale has worked with include Disney Hyperion, Tundra, Simon and Schuster, Doubleday, KidsCan Press, Owl Books, Grosset & Dunlap, GreyStone, Scholastic, Pearson, and Marvel. -
Keith Negley
Keith's work has appeared on book covers, children's books, t-shirts, album covers, posters, skateboard decks, and even a watch. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and New Yorker in addition to many other national publications. He received his BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2000, and his MFA from The School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2013 and doesn’t regret the student debt one bit. He’s won 4 medals from the Society of Illustrators, a medal from the Society of Illustrators West, and 2 medals from the 3x3 International Illustration annual. His book Tough Guys (Have Feelings Too) received a Kate Greenaway Medal nomination in 2016. Keith resides in the mountains of Bellingham Washington with his
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Patrick Carman
I have been a lifelong writer and storyteller. Salem, Oregon is where I spent my formative years and I graduated from Willamette University. After college, I spent a decade living in Portland, Oregon where I worked in advertising, game design, and technology.
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I've written young adult and children's books for Scholastic, Little Brown Books For Young Readers and Katherine Tegen Books/ HarperCollins Publishers.
I've been fortunate enough to have had some bestselling series work: The Land of Elyon, Atherton, Elliot’s Park, 39 Clues, and Skeleton Creek. Here's a fun note...the books have been translated into approximately two dozen languages. Currently I'm developing a few new-media projects. Check out DARK EDEN to experience this type of cross-pl -
Jorge Lacera
Jorge Lacera was born in Colombia, and grew up in Miami, Florida drawing in sketchbooks, on napkins, on walls, and anywhere his parents would let him.
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After graduating with honors from Ringling College of Art and Design, Jorge worked as a visual development and concept artist for major gaming studios and entertainment companies.
As a big fan of pop culture, comics, and zombie movies, Jorge rarely saw Latinx kids as the heroes or leads. He is committed to changing that, especially now that he has a son. He is a co-founder of #LatinxPitch (www.latinxpitch.com)
Jorge is currently helping to create the next chapter in the BioShock franchise as the Art Director at Cloud Chamber Studios in Montreal, Quebec. -
Troy Wilson
Author of nine picture books, including PERFECT MAN, HAT CAT, and GOLDIBOOKS AND THE WEE BEAR.
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Carol Brendler
Carol is the author of WINNIE FINN, WORM FARMER, a picture book illustrated by Ard Hoyt (FSG) and RADIO GIRL, an upper-middle grade (or YA) novel about a girl caught in the middle of the 1938 "War of the Worlds" panic broadcast, Holiday House, 2013. NOT VERY SCARY, a picture book illustrated by Greg Pizzoli is slated for release in August, 2014 (FSG), and another picture book is forthcoming from Clarion, date TBD! Carol holds a Master's Degree in writing for children and young adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Find out way more at www.carolbrendlerbooks.com
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Abi Cushman
Abi Cushman is an award-winning author-illustrator of funny picture books, including Wombats Are Pretty Weird, Animals Go Vroom!, and Soaked!.
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When she’s not creating picture books, Abi works as a web/graphic designer. Her educational website Animal Fact Guide was named a “Great Website for Kids” by the American Library Association. She also enjoys running, playing tennis, and eating nachos. (Yes, at the same time.)
For sneak peeks, exclusive giveaways, and wombats, join Abi's email list. -
Jules Feiffer
Jules Ralph Feiffer was an American cartoonist and author, who at one time was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for editorial cartooning, and in 2004 he was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame. He wrote the animated short Munro, which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1961. The Library of Congress has recognized his "remarkable legacy", from 1946 to the present, as a cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, adult and children's book author, illustrator, and art instructor.
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When Feiffer was 17 (in the mid-1940s) he became assistant to cartoonist Will Eisner. There he helped Eisner write and illustrate his comic strips, including The Spirit. In 1956, he became a s -
Deborah Freedman
Once upon a time, I was an architect. But now I'd much rather build worlds in books. :)
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I am the author and illustrator of 12 of them, featuring protagonists that include an earthworm searching for its purpose in life, a house that dreams of its origins, and a character that is almost too shy to appear in its own book.
My stories have been translated into ten different languages, adopted in classrooms across the country, and honored with many starred reviews and awards. I live in a colorful house in Connecticut, where I'm always busy at work on my next books.
I love reading books and telling you about them; I hate rating them! Let's just say that if I didn't like a book, it isn't here at all.
Website: www.deborahfreedman.net
—with tons of free -
Brian Jacques
Brian Jacques (pronounced 'jakes') was born in Liverpool, England on June 15th, 1939. Along with forty percent of the population of Liverpool, his ancestral roots are in Ireland, County Cork to be exact.
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Brian grew up in the area around the Liverpool docks, where he attended St. John's School, an inner city school featuring a playground on its roof. At the age of ten, his very first day at St. John's foreshadowed his future career as an author; given an assignment to write a story about animals, he wrote a short story about a bird who cleaned a crocodile's teeth. Brian's teacher could not, and would not believe that a ten year old could write so well. When young Brian refused to falsely say that he had copied the story, he was caned as "a l -
Deanna Caswell
I write children's books, I'm more famous in my area for my pets! See my new book Little House in the Suburbs and videos uploaded below and the newspaper links here, here, here, here, and here.
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James Russell
I am the author of the best-selling Dragon Brothers Trilogy of children's books (The Dragon Hunters, The Dragon Tamers and The Dragon Riders) and the best-selling, middle-grade novel series The Dragon Defenders (The Dragon Defenders, The Dragon Defenders – Book Two: The Pitbull Returns, The Dragon Defenders - Book Three: An Unfamiliar Place, The Dragon Defenders - Book Four: All Is Lost and The Dragon Defenders - Book Five: The Grand Opening.
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I launch my first book for adults, entitled 'Mine - A Surfing Odyssey on North Sentinel Island' on June 1, 2021.
I live in Auckland with my wife and two young sons. -
Ellie Royce
Auntie Uncle: Drag Queen Hero is out now!
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New picture book coming early 2021 with Ford St. Publishing.
Ellie Royce was born in Adelaide, South Australia and she's been telling stories ever since.
Ellie is the author of four books for children. Her new picture book "Auntie Uncle Drag Queen Hero" was published by POW! Kids in April 2020 . Ellie has another picture book due in 2021 with Ford Street Publishing.
Ellie truly believes in the power of stories to change the world for the better, so she writes and reads them all the time (quite often when she should be doing other things!).
These days Ellie lives in Northern New South Wales Australia and plans to keep writing visionary stories for kids and young adults forever. -
Heather Dean Brewer
Heather Dean Brewer is a writer, artist, and art director who designs books for kids and adults and loves to ride her bike in the woods. About this book she says, "I've often felt quiet and small and that no one could hear me. But when I joined others in the Women's March and saw my friend Mari lifted above the crowd and heard her voice echo down the streets of New York City, I learned that even the smallest voice has the power to change the world. She lives in Michigan with her family.
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Majdi Osman
I'm Majdi and I’m interested in ways to improve the health and wellbeing of children and youth. I’m a physician-scientist researching the role of the gut microbiome in human health. I grew up in the UK and Sudan.
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Emma Chinnery
I’m Emma, a British illustrator and writer living in Suffolk.
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My debut author-illustrated children’s picture book My Friend Andy was published in March 2024 with Little Tiger.
After working as a graphic artist in London for several years, I followed my passion for children’s books and studied on the MA Children’s Book Illustration course at the Cambridge School of Art, graduating with a Distinction in 2021.
I love to work with children and run workshops and live drawing sessions in schools and libraries.
I enjoy sketching people out and about and looking for those little stories going on everywhere around us!
When I’m not drawing or writing, you’ll find me on a bike, cycling the country lanes of Suffolk. -
Matt Myers
Matt Myers is the author and illustrator of Hum and Swish, and the illustrator of many other books for young readers, including the Infamous Ratsos series by Kara LaReau, Battle Bunny by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett, A Dog Named Doug by Karma Wilson, and BB-8 On the Run by Drew Daywalt. Matt Myers lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Casey Lyall
Casey Lyall lives in Southwestern Ontario where she also works at her local library. When she’s not writing, Casey loves to bake, doodle, and learn extremely groan-worthy jokes to tell her friends.
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Lian Cho
Lian Cho is a Brooklyn-based illustrator born in Taiwan. She is the author and illustrator of many goofy books for children.
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Bill Martin
Bill Martin (born 1956) is a professor of Philosophy at DePaul University whose academic work concerns Derrida, Sartre, Marxist theory, Aesthetics, and critiques of Richard Rorty. Martin has also written on progressive rock bands including Yes
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Cary Fagan
Cary Fagan has written numerous books for children, including What Are You Doing, Benny?, Little Blue Chair and Mr. Zinger's Hat, which was awarded the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the IODE Jean Throop Award. He has also won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People for his body of work. Cary was born and raised in Toronto, where he continues to live with his family.
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Jonathan Hillman
Jonathan Hillman is the author of BIG WIG, which garnered national attention when it was selected for the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program's reading list, and THE WISHING MACHINE (out October 17, 2023). A graduate of Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults (MFAC) program, he lives near Minneapolis with his cat, Dot.
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Kelly DiPucchio
Kelly is the award-winning author of several children’s books, thousands of To-Do lists, and a few recipe cards. Two of her books, Grace For President and The Sandwich Swap, were New York Times bestsellers.
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Like most kids who grew up in the 1970’s, Kelly had a pet goat and bought all her clothes from the Sears catalog. Like most teenagers who grew up in the 1980’s, Kelly had really big glasses and feathered hair.
Today, Kelly lives with her husband and three children in southeastern Michigan, where she enjoys writing just about everything except her own bio. -
Helen Yoon
Helen Yoon is a freelance illustrator and creative consultant operating in the greater Los Angeles area. Sheepish is her first picture book.
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Cat Min
Cat Min is an illustrator, animator, and writer. Cat grew up as a shy kid in Hong Kong, where she spent most of her childhood drawing and making comic books out of printer paper and staples with her best friend. She studied animation and film at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and completed the Illustration & Visual Storytelling Summer Residency Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is also a member of SCBWI. Her (not so) guilty pleasures are: McDonald's french fries, sappy romance comics, mobile escape game apps, visual novels, and all things cheese.
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Andrea J. Loney
Andrea J. Loney grew up in a small town in New Jersey and received her MFA in dramatic writing from New York University. Since then, she has worked various jobs, from screenwriter to toy designer to software trainer, and she even ran away to live with a circus. Today Andrea spends most of her time writing the kind of books that she wishes had been available when she was a child—stories that embrace and reflect the humanity of all children. She lives with her partner, their two cats, and a betta fish in Los Angeles, California. Visit her online at andreajloney.com.
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Zetta Elliott
I’m a Black feminist writer of poetry, plays, essays, novels, and stories for children. I was born and raised in Canada, but have lived in the US for 30 years. I earned my PhD in American Studies from NYU in 2003; I have taught at Ohio University, Louisiana State University, Mount Holyoke College, Hunter College, Bard High School Early College, and Borough of Manhattan Community College.
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My poetry has been published in New Daughters of Africa, We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices, the Cave Canem anthology, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South, Check the Rhyme: an Anthology of Female Poets and Emcees, and Coloring Book: an Eclectic Anthology of Fiction and Poetry by Multicultural Writers.
My novella, Plastique, was excerpted in T Dot G -
Maggie Edkins Willis
Maggie Edkins Willis grew up on the southern coast of Maine and studied design and art history at Penn. For seven years, she worked in-house for two major children’s publishers, designing, art directing, and illustrating dozens of covers. She worked on Newbery Medal-winners, Printz Honor recipients, a National Book Award shortlisted title, and numerous New York Times bestsellers.
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A full-time author/illustrator, Maggie lives in New Jersey with her family. -
Sam Zuppardi
Sam Zuppardi says he used to draw cartoons at school when he was supposed to be doing work. Among other things, he has worked in a book warehouse, a bookstore, and a toy store, and is currently working with children. The Nowhere Box is his first picture book. He lives in England.
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Bunmi Laditan
Hello, my name is Bunmi Laditan. I am a writer living in Quebec, Canada by way of northern California. My writings include The Honest Toddler and Confessions of a Domestic failure and poetry such as Dear Mother and Dear God: Honest Prayers to a God Who Listens.
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instagram.com/HonestToddler
facebook.com/BunmiKLaditan -
Janie Bynum
JANIE BYNUM is the author-illustrator of several books for children, including ALTOONA BABOONA. She says, "When I sat down to write Nutmeg and Barley, I was thinking about how opposites tend to attract. I also wanted to explore the consequences of miscommunication -- so common in all types of relationships. Finally, and probably most important, Nutmeg and Barley is about how friends nurture each other -- in spite of little tiffs or differences."
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from Candlewick's website http://www.candlewick.com -
Jenny Offill
Jenny Offill is an American author born in Massachusetts. Her first novel Last Things was published in 1999 was a New York Times Notable book and a finalist for the L.A Times First Book Award.
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She is also the co-editor with Elissa Schappell of two anthologies of essays and the author of several children's books She teaches in the MFA programs at Brooklyn College, Columbia University and Queens University. -
Todd Boss
Todd Boss, a critically-acclaimed poet, librettist, public artist, and film producer, holds a diverse career with a passion for collaboration. His works for both page and stage have been read and produced throughout the world.
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Boss’s 2008 poetry debut Yellowrocket was followed by Pitch in 2012, Tough Luck in 2017, and Someday the Plan of a Town, , all from W. W. Norton & Co. Todd’s poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, The London Times, The New Yorker, NPR, Best American Poetry, and Virginia Quarterly Review, which called Yellowrocket, “one of the year’s 10 best poetry books” and awarded Todd the Emily Clark Balch Prize. Yellowrocket was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award and was named a Midwest Booksellers’ Honor Book -
Jennifer Mook-Sang
Jennifer Mook-Sang was born in Guyana, South America, and moved to Canada at the age of fourteen. Since she can remember, she’s loved to read. Summers would find her curled up with humungous stacks of Enid Blytons and comic books. When she’d read those a trillion times over and knew them by heart, she’d start reading her textbooks for the coming year.
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Jennifer didn't consider writing until she began reading stories to her two boys. Those books were so much fun and clever, creating one seemed like the best thing anyone could do. She took writing classes and workshops and read lots about writing. She wrote bad stuff and not-so-bad stuff until she had written a whole book about a boy who really didn’t want to give a speech.
That book SPEECHLESS -
Amy Young
Amy Young trained as a fine artist at Yale and received an MFA in painting from Indiana University as well as a law degree from Harvard. She lives in Spring Lake, Michigan.
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Ann Turner
Ann Turner, also known and published as Ann Warren Turner, is a children's author and a poet.
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Ann Turner wrote her first story when she was eight years old. It was about a dragon and a dwarf named Puckity. She still uses that story when she talks to students about writing, to show them that they too have stories worth telling.
Turner has always loved to write, but at first she was afraid she couldn't make a living doing it. So she trained to be a teacher instead. After a year of teaching, however, she decided she would rather write books than talk about them in school.
Turner's first children's book was about vultures and was illustrated by her mother. She has written more than 40 books since then, most of them historical picture books. She li -
Gilbert Ford
Gilbert Ford grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and moved to New York to attend Pratt Institute. After graduating, he worked as a designer and illustrator for a giftware company, creating puzzles, games, stickers, stationery, and activity books for children, before setting out on his own in 2007. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. His toys have won several Openheimer awards, and his illustrations have been recognized by Communication Arts, 3 x 3, American Illustration Chosen, The Society of Illustrators, and The Society of Publication Designers. He is the author and illustrator of his first picture book published by Disney/Hyperion, entitled FLYING LESSONS that hit the shelves in Spring, 2010. He is also the illustrator of the po
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Jon J. Muth
Jon J. Muth is an American comic artist. His works include J. M. DeMatteis' graphic novel Moonshadow, Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: The Wake (along with Michael Zulli, Charles Vess), Mike Carey's Lucifer: Nirvana and Swamp Thing: Roots. Muth has gone on to an award-winning career as a children's book writer and illustrator. He received a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators for his illustrations in Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse.
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He has also created a version of the Stone soup fable set in China. -
Emma Garcia
NEVER GOOGLE HEARTBREAK is Emma's first novel very loosely based around her own experiences of being in her thirties and single in London, of being dumped, getting over it, and falling for it all over again. She has worked as a waitress, technical assistant, chambermaid, sandwich designer, product manager, illustrator and teacher, and spent a while traveling and working in Asia. She has also written and illustrated three children's picture books. She now lives in Yorkshire with her husband and three children, and is getting excited about the launch of the second book in the series, OMG BABY!
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You can follow Emma on Twitter @EmzaGarcia. -
Zainab Khan
Zainab is a member of SCBWI, Inked Voices, and is a critique ninja for 12x12. As a Muslim woman of Pakistani heritage who has lived in different parts of the world, she writes diverse stories that promote empathy, kindness and unity between children of all faiths and cultures.
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NOURA’S CRESCENT MOON will be published by Candlewick in 2024. Zainab is donating part of her proceeds to GIVELIGHT. ORG. This organization cares for and educates orphans in ten different countries.
Currently, Zainab lives in Manhasset with her husband, two kids and cat. -
Gianna Davy
A lifelong dancer and artist, Gianna has been blessed with many opportunities to witness the world from many angles. Raised in Oakland, CA, her professional career began on stage as a Bay Area ballerina where she learned that the simple act of playing will forever keep you connected to your most authentic self. Her early-born passion for dance carried her through a 16-year professional career where she worked with many dance companies.
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Teaching art, dance, and movement has also been a huge passion for Gianna, and she has had the pleasure of sharing this joy with students for almost 25 years. Gianna teaches to every age, level, and ability, and not always within the traditional limitations of studio, style, or student. In addition to being a -
Sean Hayes
Sean Patrick Hayes (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he gained acclaim for his role as Jack McFarland on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also received nominations for six Golden Globe Awards and two Tony Awards, winning one of the latter.
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Alice B. McGinty
Alice Blumenthal McGinty is an American writer of children's books.
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McGinty was born in 1963 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She attended Indiana University and the University of Illinois. McGinty is Jewish. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. -
Lane Smith
Lane Smith was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but moved to Corona, California at a young age. He spent summers in Tulsa, however, and cites experiences there as inspirations for his work, saying that "[o]nce you've seen a 100-foot cement buffalo on top of a donut-stand (sic) in the middle of nowhere, you're never the same."
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He studied art in college at the encouragement of his high school art teacher, helping to pay for it by working as a janitor at Disneyland. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration, and moved to New York City, where he was hired to do illustrations for various publications including Time, Mother Jones, and Ms..
Smith is married to Molly Leach, who is a book designer and designed the Smith/Scieszka collaboration. -
Carole Boston Weatherford
Carole Boston Weatherford is a children's book author and poet who mines the past for family stories, traditions, and struggles. A number of CAROLE's books tell the stories of African-American historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Jesse Owens, and Billie Holiday. Other books recount historical events such as the Greensboro Sit-ins and the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. CAROLE's books have received a wide variety of awards, including a Caldecott Honour for “Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People To Freedom”.
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LeUyen Pham
LeUyen Pham is the illustrator of many books for children, including God’s Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams, The Princess in Black series and Aunt Mary’s Rose by Douglas Wood. LeUyen Pham lives in California.
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Christopher Denise
Christopher Denise spent much of his childhood in Shannon, Ireland, exploring castles and dreaming of great adventures. He is the illustrator of many critically acclaimed books for young readers, including Anika Denise’s Bunny in the Middle, Alison McGhee’s Firefly Hollow, and Rosemary Wells’s Following Grandfather, as well as several in Brian Jacques’s award-winning Redwall series. His books have appeared on the Indie Next List and the New York Times bestseller list. Knight Owl (march 2022) marks his author-illustrator debut. Christopher’s current adventures include exploring coastal Rhode Island, where he lives with his family.
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Alice Schertle
Alice Schertle has written more than 40 books, mostly for children. A mother and former elementary school teacher, Ms. Schertle is a graduate of the University of Southern California. Many of her most famous works are poetic in nature, though she writes about a wide variety of topics.
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Hervé Tullet
Hervé Tullet is the creator of more than fifty children’s books, including Press Here, which has been translated into twenty-seven languages. He loves to provoke surprise with his books, as well as in the dynamic workshops that he takes part in. He lives in Paris and is celebrated internationally for his playful, inventive, and interactive storytelling.
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Jory John
Jory John is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and two-time E.B. White Read-Aloud Honor recipient.
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Jory's work includes the #1 New York Times bestselling picture book, The Good Egg, and the #2 New York Times bestselling picture book, The Bad Seed, both illustrated by Pete Oswald. He is also the author of the popular picture books, Penguin Problems and Giraffe Problems, both illustrated by Lane Smith, the award-winning Goodnight Already! series, illustrated by Benji Davies, the New York Times bestselling Terrible Two series, the recent picture books Quit Calling Me a Monster! (with Bob Shea), Can Somebody Please Scratch My Back? (with Liz Climo), and the international bestseller, All my friends are dead, among many other books for both -
Mac Barnett
Born to non-farmers in a California farming community, Mac Barnett now lives near San Francisco. He's on the board of directors of 826LA, a nonprofit writing center for students in Los Angeles, and he founded the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, a convenience store for time travelers.
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Peter Brown
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Peter Brown is an American writer and illustrator who is best known for children's picture books.
"Peter has always loved telling stories. Growing up in New Jersey, he told stories by drawing whimsical characters and scenes from his imagination. Then, as a teenager, he fell in love with writing, and told his tales with words. While studying illustration at Art Center College of Design, Peter’s love of both words and pictures led him to take several courses on children’s books, and before long he knew he’d found his calling.
After graduating from Art Center Peter moved to New York City to be closer to the publishing in -
Jon Klassen
Jon Klassen received the 2010 Canadian Governor General’s Award for his illustrations in Caroline Stutson’s Cat's Night Out. He also created illustrations for the popular series The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place and served as an illustrator on the animated feature film Coraline (2009). I Want My Hat Back is the first book he has both written and illustrated. Originally from Niagara Falls, Canada, he lives in Los Angeles.
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Vikki VanSickle
Everything I need to know in life I learned from children's literature. My work ranges from contemporary middle grade fiction to magical, storytime-ready picture books.
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I am currently living in Toronto where I work in children's publishing in addition to writing. All kids' books, all the time! -
Drew Daywalt
Ever since his childhood in one of Ohio’s most haunted houses, writer director Drew Daywalt has been writing escapist fantasy and building worlds of his own. With a degree in Creative Writing, and a concentration in Children’s Literature from Emerson College in Boston, Daywalt set off to Hollywood where he spent years writing for Disney and Universal on such beloved shows as Timon & Pumba, Buzz Lightyear, and Woody Woodpecker, and where his animated series The Wacky World of Tex Avery garnered an Emmy nomination.
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His first trip into live action landed him studio screenwriting and feature film directing work with such Hollywood luminaries as Quentin Tarrantino, Lawrence Bender, Tony Scott, Brett Ratner and Jerry Bruckheimer.
With an eye towa -
Terry Fan
Terry Fan received his formal art training at Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, Canada. His work is a blend of traditional and contemporary techniques, using ink or graphite mixed with digital. He spends his days (and nights) creating magical paintings, portraits, and prints. Terry is the cocreator of The Night Gardener, It Fell from the Sky, and Lizzy and the Cloud. Born in Illinois, he now lives in Toronto.
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Josh Funk
Josh Funk is the author of the Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast series, the How to Code with Pearl and Pascal series, Dear Unicorn, Dear Dragon, My Pet Feet, the It's Not a Fairy Tale series, Lost in the Library and more. His books have sold more than half a million copies worldwide and been translated into a dozen languages.
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Josh grew up in New England and studied Computer Science in school. Today, he still lives in New England and when not writing Java code or Python scripts, he drinks Java coffee and writes manuscripts. Since the fall of 2015, Josh has presented (or virtually presented) at over 850 schools, classrooms, and libraries.
Josh is terrible at writing bios, so please help fill in the blanks. Josh enjoys _______ during ________ and -
Julie Falatko
Julie Falatko is the award-winning author of picture books and novels, including Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat series, The Great Indoors, Yours in Books, and many more.
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Originally from New Jersey, Julie now lives in Maine with her family. -
Casey Lyall
Casey Lyall lives in Southwestern Ontario where she also works at her local library. When she’s not writing, Casey loves to bake, doodle, and learn extremely groan-worthy jokes to tell her friends.
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Aliza Layne
Aliza Layne was raised by two married dogs but is now a cat. She makes monsters and goblins and Halloween costumes in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, where she lives with her gay friends. Beetle & the Hollowbones, her first graphic novel, was a Stonewall Honor Book. Find more of her work for adults and kids at AlizaLayne.com.
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Daniel Haack
Daniel Haack began writing at a young age, although much of his earliest work centered exclusively around his desire to be a swashbuckling hero. Like the Prince and the Knight, he just wants to save the day and get the boy, too. He has since written for various publications and collections, and Prince & Knight is his debut children’s book. He graduated from Ithaca College and is a Saul Zaentz Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He currently works in children’s educational media, for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award. Originally from Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, and formerly a New Yorker, Daniel now lives in Los Angeles, California. Find out more about Daniel at danielhaack.com.
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Flavia Z. Drago
Flavia Z. Drago was born and raised in Mexico City. As a child, she wanted to be a mermaid. When that didn’t happen, she began her career as a graphic designer and a children’s book illustrator. She loves color, textures, and shapes and enjoys creating them with different materials and a bit of digital sorcery. Her first picture book, Gustavo, the Shy Ghost, has been highly acclaimed. She lives in Mexico.
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Maggie Edkins Willis
Maggie Edkins Willis grew up on the southern coast of Maine and studied design and art history at Penn. For seven years, she worked in-house for two major children’s publishers, designing, art directing, and illustrating dozens of covers. She worked on Newbery Medal-winners, Printz Honor recipients, a National Book Award shortlisted title, and numerous New York Times bestsellers.
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A full-time author/illustrator, Maggie lives in New Jersey with her family. -
Devin Elle Kurtz
Devin Elle Kurtz lives in San Diego, California, with her dog, Kira, and her thirty-three houseplants. She’s been painting in Photoshop since the age of two when her artist mom first offered her a tablet pen. She was the lead background painter on the TV show “Disenchantment” at Rough Draft Studios from 2019-2021. The Bakery Dragon is her first picture book as an author-illustrator.
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Lauren Emmons
Lauren Emmons (they/them) is an illustrator and author of children’s books. They grew up in Minnesota exploring forests and learning important skills like turning the top of an acorn into a loud whistle. While they now live in North Dakota, they have lived all over the place - from California to Wisconsin to England.
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They have a Masters Degree in Children’s Book Illustration from the prestigious Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England; and was an award winner in the World Illustration Awards. The first book they illustrated, Prak Fills The House, was published by Peachtree Publishing in 2023; and their debut author illustrated book, No Cats In The Library, was published by Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster in 2024.
They create thei -
X. Fang
Hello! I’m X. Fang. I am a visual artist and maker of books for young readers. I was born in Taiwan, raised in Atlanta, Georgia, bounced around Brooklyn and Philly before settling down in Midcoast Maine with my husband, son, and dog.
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Ellen J. Lewinberg
Ellen Lewinberg has a master's degree in social work and is a trained child and adult psychoanalyst. She worked as a psychoanalyst for many years until a health issue introduced her to energy healing. She was so excited by the potential of energy healing that she trained and currently works as an energy healer.
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Ellen realized that young children experience a connection to energy and the unseen, but forget this knowledge as they grow older. She wanted to remind both older children and adults how important it is for themselves and the world around them to remember the connections. -
Brendan Kearney
Brendan Kearney makes his illustration debut with Flying Machines. He lives in St. Albans, England.
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Catherine Jacob
Author of children’s books. TV newshound @ITN
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@5_News
@scholastic_UK
@WalkerbooksUK
@LittleTigerUK
Agent
@lydiaRsilver -
Ari Berk
Ari Berk is a writer, artist, and scholar of literature, folklore, and myth. Former student of and assistant to Pulitzer Prize winning writer N. Scott Momaday, Ari has written everything from academic works on ancient cultures to popular books about myths and legends for children and adults and, most recently, a trilogy of novels. He works in a library filled to the ceiling with thousands of arcane books and more than a few wondrous artifacts. When not writing, he moonlights as professor of mythology and folklore at Central Michigan University. He lives in Michigan with his wife and son. Visit him at www.ariberk.com.
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Richard Collingridge
Richard Collingridge was born in London Hammersmith, studied Illustration then went to Paris to live for a while (4 years),
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then got bored and decided to come back to England.
At about the age of five Richard noticed that real people didn't look like a bunch of sticks with a circle on the top.
But to his amazement, no one else in his classroom, including the teachers, seemed to be able to see this.
So with this secret in mind, he decided that when he grew up, he wanted to draw pictures for a living.
He has always enjoyed creating different worlds and universes for his non-stick people, and after illustrating book covers
and other people's stories, he decided to put some words next to his own drawings.
This seemed to work quite well - Debut -
Naoko Stoop
Brooklyn, New York based selftaught illustrator creating childhood images in her loft studio.
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"I’m trying to bring out the five-year old in people through my artwork. Because I believe that is the last moment before children start learning how complicated the world is, and that was when I once stopped drawing. It took me decades to come back to myself. Now? Here I am drawing everyday! For more about my work, please visit my website. Thank you for looking. Grew up in Tokyo, Japan, Creating in Brooklyn, New York, I love Moomin Troll and Totoro!!" -
Maya van der Meer
MAYA VAN DER MEER is an author, educator, environmentalist and long-time Buddhist practitioner. She is the founder of the online education platform Bodhi Kids and assists Buddhist communities in establishing or enhancing their children's programming for over a decade. Maya has run children's programs at meditation retreats and was an instructor at the Middle Way School in Woodstock, New York, where she currently lives with her life partner and their children.
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Poonam Mistry
My name is Poonam Mistry and I am a freelance Illustrator currently living in the UK.
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My style incorporates my love of nature and explores the relationships between pattern, shapes and colour creating beautifully intricate illustrations. Being brought up surrounded by Indian fabrics, paintings and ornaments have heavily influenced my work. Folklore tales and stories of Hindu Gods and Goddesses have been a rich source of inspiration in a number of my illustrations. My pieces are predominantly hand drawn with alterations made using PhotoShop. Currently I am working on a selection of children’s books. -
Megan Lacera
Megan Lacera grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, with a book always in her hands. She became a writer and creator of characters and worlds for entertainment companies, and later formed her own creative company with husband Jorge Lacera. After reading many stories to their son, Megan realized that very few books reflected a family like theirs—multicultural, bilingual, funny, and imperfect. She decided to change that by writing her own stories. You can learn more about Megan and Studio Lacera at studiolacera.com.
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Janet Schulman
Janet Schulman has worked in children’s book publishing as an editor and an author for more than 40 years. She is currently Editor-at-Large and Division Vice President of Random House and Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.
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Bethany Christou
Bethany Christou is a children’s book artist who loves to create stories with heart. Slow Samson is her author-illustrator debut. She lives in Hertfordshire, England.
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Madeline Valentine
Madeline Valentine is the author-illustrator of The Bad Birthday Idea. Painting and drawing have been her favorite activities since she was smaller than Little Red Henry. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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David Catrow
David Catrow's favorite subject in school was math. Why? Well, Mr. Hirsch's class was where Catrow did some of his best drawings! Catrow's zany illustrations have illuminated over 30 books for kids, and his editorial cartoons are syndicated in more than 900 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Not bad for someone who started out as a pre-med major at Kent State and later worked as a paramedic for ten years. During this time Catrow also worked as a freelance artist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Akron Beacon-Journal. Art finally emerged as his definitive career, and he's never stopped since.
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This amusing illustrator and his wife, Deborah, live in Ohio and have two children. When asked what would be the one thing he would like to learn