Ellen Surrey is an illustrator out of sunny Los Angeles, California. Blending her love of mid-century design and vintage children’s books, Ellen enjoys finding beauty in the past and colourfully sharing it with a contemporary audience. She’s illustrated many books about inspirational people, including Dolly Parton! Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Los Angeles Times. When she isn’t working, Ellen enjoys watching old movies and visiting her favourite thrift stores.

Ruth Millington is an art historian and author, researching and writing about great artists, muses and masterpieces. For her first adult art book, Muse, Ruth worked like an art detective, uncovering the real-life people found in famous portraits. She has appeared on TV and radio, telling stories about Surrealism, Frida Kahlo and other artists from around the world. She was brought up on the sunny island of Bermuda but now lives in the rainier city of Birmingham in England. When she is not working, Ruth loves to read, sing along to music and decorate her home with lots and lots of art. She also likes to drink tea and paint pictures, and sometimes dips brushes in her mug by accident!

Jack Jackman is a father of three who works as a teacher in Scotland. Before settling in Scotland, he spent his time wandering the world, including a time in Argentina where he, for years, was the most southerly English teacher in the world. Jack used to be a tour guide in a prison, a pianist in a punk rock band, a tester of computer games and even a waiter in Antarctica (penguins do not tip well). It was when he worked in Antarctica he had the opportunity to visit the Halley Research Station (as one of very few members of the public to ever do so). Jack also writes plays which have been performed in Buenos Aires, London and Edinburgh.

Piu DasGupta was born in Calcutta, India and grew up in India and the UK. She studied English at Oxford University and subsequently worked in several serious professions and places before following a long-nurtured dream to be a writer in a garret in Paris. She now lives in Paris although not (thankfully) in a garret, with her family, two cats, and numerous pigeons who flap to the kitchen windowsill for regular snacks. When she finally grows up, she hopes to fulfil her ultimate fantasy and run away to join the circus.

Chaaya Prabhat is an illustrator and lettering artist from Chennai, India, currently working out of Goa. She has worked on a number of picture books, including The Culture of Clothes (Templar Publishing), The Best Diwali Ever (Scholastic), Bracelets for Bina’s Brothers (Charlesbridge Publishing) and Hide-and-Seek History: The Egyptians (Little Tiger Publishing). She’s previously worked with several clients such as Penguin, Hachette, Facebook and Google on digital illustration projects. She has previously received awards for her portfolio and projects from Behance and Adobe.

Kay Vincent, busy mum of two children and a dog, grew up in the countryside in a little village called Bobbington in the West Midlands. She moved to London to study her MA at The Royal College of Art in 2003 and has lived and worked there ever since. Kay has enjoyed being a Print Designer for kids fashion, and more recently has been enjoying kids book illustration and creating prints that bring life to nursery and kids’ bedroom walls.

Kay finds inspiration in her treasured collection of vintage kids books and other retro bits and bobs, and has a fascination with all of the amazing creatures that we share our planet with, great and small. Sharing our world with all these wonderful creatures makes everything a bit more magic.

Louise Lockhart is from Yorkshire and has her studio in a renovated cotton mill where she also lives with her young family. Since she was a child she has made picture books (usually about cats). She takes inspiration from everyday things around her that others may overlook. She loves to spend her time working on children’s books alongside creating fun and bright designs for clients such as M&S and Mini Boden. She creates her work by cutting out shapes from paper and scans them into the computer to add colour and texture. She loves the colours of mid-century textiles and the tenderness and humour you find in folk art. She started her shop The Printed Peanut in 2012 and is known for her line of delightfully bright illustrated products.

Kieran Larwood was born in Kenya. He moved to the UK when he was 2 and lived in various places before settling on the Isle of Wight where he can still be found: exploring rockpools, climbing trees and writing – slowly disappearing behind a mountain of notebooks and empty coffee mugs. He taught Reception class in a primary school for fifteen years before becoming a full-time author.
Kieran’s books have won several awards, including the Blue Peter Best Story and the Prix Sorcières.
He is inspired by a life-long love of fantasy stories, which all began when – as a young boy – he picked up a copy of The Hobbit and saw the map inside. It just goes to show – you never know where opening a book will lead…

Joe Todd-Stanton grew up in Brighton, England, and was taught to draw by his mother, who is also an illustrator. He studied at UWE Bristol, receiving a first class degree in Illustration. Todd-Stanton has been commissioned to work for clients such as Oxford University Press, Usborne Publishing, and Aquila magazine. His work has been highly
praised and his book The Secret of Black Rock was longlisted for The C ILIP Kate Greenaway Medal 2018 and won a 2018 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.