Nicola O'Byrne
Nicola O’Byrne was banned from watching Saturday morning television by her parents and she has been drawing ever since. She grew up in Singapore surrounded by the vibrant colors of the tropics and had not even heard of illustration as a career before she discovered the Illustration course at Edinburgh College of Art. She has a masters in printmaking from Camberwell College of Art. Nicola O’Byrne gets most of her ideas for children’s books when she should be working on something else, and bases all of her characters on people she knows. She lives in England.
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Lily Murray
Lily grew up in the wilds of snowy nowhere, spending much of her time talking to animals and making up stories. She has continued to do this in her adult life, and now writes both fiction and non-fiction books for children. Her titles include big books about dinosaurs, rhyming books about dinosaurs and stories about escapee hot dogs. Follow Lily on Instagram and Twitter @lilymurraybooks
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Robert Starling
Robert Starling began doodling creatures and characters at school and hasn't stopped since.
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He lives and works in Bristol, England, and when he's not sketching up new characters or writing down stories he can be found sculpting, brewing coffee, or teaching kids. -
K-Fai Steele
Hi! My name is K-Fai Steele and I write and draw picture books.
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A Normal Pig my debut author-illustrator book comes out in June 2019 with Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins. Noodlephant by Jacob Kramer and illustrated by me is coming out in February 2019 with Enchanted Lion. Old MacDonald Had a Baby by Emily Snape comes out in fall 2019 with Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan.
I live in San Francisco and I’m currently a 2018-2019 Brown Handler Writer in Residence at the San Francisco Public Library. I was the 2018 Ezra Jack Keats/Kerlan Memorial Fellow at the University of Minnesota, and I've been an Artist in Residence at ArtsIceland, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study.
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Jo Ham
Jo Ham is an award-winning British illustrator, artist and designer. She is also the founder of HAM and creator of Rabbit, whose joyful adventures have been spotted everywhere from the Centre Pompidou in Paris to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. HAM’s playful illustrations can be found on ceramics, prints and nursery decorations that are favourites in homes all around the world.
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Jo's first picture books, Yippee! Rabbit and Uh-Oh! Rabbit, launched in September 2023 with the Walker Books Group. The next book in the series will be published in early 2024.
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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 -
Tom Fletcher
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Tom Fletcher is one of the UK's most popular children's authors. Tom's books have been translated into 41 languages and to date he has sold over 6 million copies of his books in the UK alone, and 10 million globally.
The Christmasaurus was the biggest debut children's novel of 2016 and was shortlisted for a British Book Award. Since then, Tom has published several more chart-topping children's novels, including The Christmasaurus and the Naughty List, The Creakers and the instant number-one bestseller The Danger Gang.
For younger readers, Tom writes the incredibly successful Who's in Your Book? picture-book series and is one half of the author duo behind the -
Rocío Bonilla
Rocío Bonilla Raya
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EN: After studying Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona, Rocio Bonilla worked in fields such as photography and advertising. Since 2010 she has forged two careers as an illustrator of children's books and a painter of murals.
ESP: Nací en Barcelona en 1970.
Licenciada en BBAA por la Universidad de Barcelona.
CAP en pedagogía.
Cursos específicos de ilustración con Ignasi Blanch y Roger Olmos.
Inicié mi trayectoria profesional a través de diversas disciplinas como la pintura, el muralismo, la fotografía, la pedagogía y, finalmente, la publicidad, que me mantuvo apartada de los lápices durante 12 años.
La maternidad fue el factor que produjo el viraje definitivo en mi carrera. Fascinada por el imaginario infantil, abandoné la p -
Robert Starling
Robert Starling began doodling creatures and characters at school and hasn't stopped since.
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He lives and works in Bristol, England, and when he's not sketching up new characters or writing down stories he can be found sculpting, brewing coffee, or teaching kids. -
K-Fai Steele
Hi! My name is K-Fai Steele and I write and draw picture books.
Buy books on Amazon
A Normal Pig my debut author-illustrator book comes out in June 2019 with Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins. Noodlephant by Jacob Kramer and illustrated by me is coming out in February 2019 with Enchanted Lion. Old MacDonald Had a Baby by Emily Snape comes out in fall 2019 with Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan.
I live in San Francisco and I’m currently a 2018-2019 Brown Handler Writer in Residence at the San Francisco Public Library. I was the 2018 Ezra Jack Keats/Kerlan Memorial Fellow at the University of Minnesota, and I've been an Artist in Residence at ArtsIceland, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study.
However, my first ambition was not to -
Robert Munsch
Robert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Fordham University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and from Boston University in 1971 with a Master of Arts degree in anthropology.
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He studied to become a Jesuit priest, but decided he would rather work with children after jobs at orphanages and daycare centers. In 1973, he received a Master of Education in Child Studies from Tufts University. In 1975 he moved to Canada to work at the preschool at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. He also taught in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Guelph as a lecturer and as an assistant professor. In Guelph he was encouraged to publish the many stories he made up for the children he worked -
Lily Murray
Lily grew up in the wilds of snowy nowhere, spending much of her time talking to animals and making up stories. She has continued to do this in her adult life, and now writes both fiction and non-fiction books for children. Her titles include big books about dinosaurs, rhyming books about dinosaurs and stories about escapee hot dogs. Follow Lily on Instagram and Twitter @lilymurraybooks
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Sandra Salsbury
I'm Sandra Salsbury, a children's book author and illustrator.
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I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I received a BFA and MFA in illustration from the Academy of Art University.
I am the author/illustrator of THE BABY WHO STAYED AWAKE FOREVER (Doubleday Books for Young Readers 2025), BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD (Peachtree 2021), and SPRECKLE'S SNACK SURPRISE (Peachtree 2023), as well as the illustrator of various other books. I live in Berkeley with my husband, daughters, and numerous house plants. The chickens live next door.
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Jarvis
Jarvis is an illustrator and animator who has worked as both a record jacket designer and an animation director. He lives in Manchester, England.
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Peter H. Reynolds
Peter Hamilton Reynolds is an author and illustrator of children's books and is the co-Founder and CEO of educational media company FableVision.
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Adam Rubin
Adam Rubin is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of ten critically-acclaimed picture books, including the Those Darn Squirrels trilogy, Dragons Love Tacos, Dragons Love Tacos 2: The Sequel, Secret Pizza Party, Robo-Sauce and El Chupacabras (winner of the 2020 Texas Blue Bonnet award). In between writing projects, he designs and collects optical illusions, puzzles and games. His favorite color is blue, his favorite food is fried chicken, and his favorite animal is the otter. Adam currently lives in Brooklyn.
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Julia Donaldson
Growing up
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I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).
Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us. A wind-up gramophone wafted out Chopin waltzes.
I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married.
Busking and books
Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.
The busking led to a career in singing a -
David Shannon
David Shannon is the author and illustrator of many highly praised books for children. Born in Washington, D.C., he grew up in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, with a fine arts degree, and then moved to New York City. His editorial illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, Time, and Rolling Stone, and his artwork has appeared on numerous book jackets. Shannon is a passionate baseball fan and softball player. He and his wife now live in Los Angeles.
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David Shannon @ Scholastic -
Deborah Hopkinson
I write nonfiction and historical fiction, picture books, and Golden Books. I speak at school, libraries, and conferences. I also love to garden and offer manuscript critiques. (Deborahhopkinson@yahoo.com)
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NEW books in 2024 include DETERMINED DREAMER: THE STORY OF MARIE CURIE, illus by Jen Hill, ON A SUMMER NIGHT, illus by Kenard Pak, TRIM HELPS OUT and TRIM SAILS the STORM, illus by Kristy Caldwell, EVIDENCE! illustrated by Nik Henderson, and a nonfiction work called THEY SAVED THE STALLIONS. I'm delighted to say that Trim Helps Out, Trim Sails the Storm, On a Summer Night and Evidence! are all Junior Library Guild selections.
I live and work in Oregon and travel all over to speak to young readers and writers. -
David Sedaris
David Raymond Sedaris is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "Santaland Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next book, Naked (1997), became his first of a series of New York Times Bestsellers, and his 2000 collection Me Talk Pretty One Day won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
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Much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating and often concerns his family life, his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, his Greek heritage, homosexuality, jobs, education, drug use, and obsessive behaviors, as well as his life in France, London -
Patricia Toht
Patricia Toht once owned a children’s bookshop called Never Never Land before turning a love of books into a love of writing. Pick a Pine Tree is her debut picture book. Patricia Toht lives in Chicago, Illinois.
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Rachel Bright
Rachel is a writer of words, drawer of pictures and champion of silver linings. She exhibits widely, writes tirelessly and frequently creates slightly unhinged characters.
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Her written work includes children’s stories and poems, clever advertising copy and lots of other stuff besides. Her illustrative work is a smorgasboard of giant, hand-printed poems, mind-bogglingly detailed gouache illustrations and a cacophony of quirky prints and etchings.
She explores the lovliness of words and the magic of pictures, revelling in a world of jam-eating miniature bears and other made-up animals.
Her work aims to capture a free way of thinking - one which makes you feel anything is possible, a feeling all too easily lost with the end of childhood. When we’r -
Jo Ham
Jo Ham is an award-winning British illustrator, artist and designer. She is also the founder of HAM and creator of Rabbit, whose joyful adventures have been spotted everywhere from the Centre Pompidou in Paris to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. HAM’s playful illustrations can be found on ceramics, prints and nursery decorations that are favourites in homes all around the world.
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Jo's first picture books, Yippee! Rabbit and Uh-Oh! Rabbit, launched in September 2023 with the Walker Books Group. The next book in the series will be published in early 2024.
Find out more about Rabbit at hammade.com and follow Jo on instagram at @hamjoanna -
Lucy Ruth Cummins
Lucy Ruth Cummins is an author, illustrator, and art director. She is the executive art director of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers where she has worked for two decades on picture books, middle grade books, and young adult novels. She also manages a team of talented art directors and designers.
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Lucy made her critically acclaimed debut as an author and illustrator with A Hungry Lion, or a Dwindling Assortment of Animals. She is also the author-illustrator of Stumpkin, Vampenguin, and Our Pool.
She is the illustrator of several books written by other authors, including Truman, written by Jean Reidy; Sounds Like School Spirit, written by Meg Fleming; and The Rescuer of Tiny Creatures, by Curtis Manning. She is also the author of Sleepy -
Patricia Toht
Patricia Toht once owned a children’s bookshop called Never Never Land before turning a love of books into a love of writing. Pick a Pine Tree is her debut picture book. Patricia Toht lives in Chicago, Illinois.
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John Dougherty
John Dougherty is an award-winning Northern Irish children's writer, born in the town of Larne in 1964. He now lives in Gloucestershire.
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He worked as a primary school teacher in London during the 1990s and early 2000s, and during this period began to write stories for children. His first book was published in 2004 and he left teaching the same year to concentrate on his writing career.
From November 2013 – 2015, he was chair of CWIG, the Children's Writer's and Illustrators Group, a sub-group of the UK's Society of Authors. -
Carson Ellis
Carson Ellis is the author and illustrator of the bestselling picture books Home and Du Iz Tak? (a Caldecott Honor book and the recipient of an E.B. White Read Aloud Award). She has illustrated a number of books for kids including The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, The Composer Is Dead by Lemony Snicket, and The Wildwood Chronicles by her husband, Colin Meloy. Carson has been awarded silver medals by the Society of Illustrators for her work on Wildwood Imperium and on Dillweed's Revenge by Florence Parry Heide. She's the illustrator-in-residence for Colin's band, The Decemberists, and received Grammy nominations in 2016 and 2018 for album art design. She works sporadically as an editorial illustrator for The New Yorker,
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Andy Lee
Andy Lee’s a comedian, musician, and TV presenter, who became an award winning children’s books’ author by accident. The first book in this series was only ever meant to have one copy. Andy wrote it as a surprise for his sister and her husband to celebrate their son George’s first birthday.
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When he asked his mate to print him one copy, his mate said, ‘This book is good, can we print more?’ What did Andy reply? ‘No. DO NOT print this book.’ Pretty sure you can guess what happened next.