Ellen Rooney - Illustrator

Ellen Rooney grew up in the 1970s with three big sisters, two big brothers, her mom and dad, and various dogs, cats and other pets. Their house was a block from the town library, and Ellen loved to visit the children’s room where her next-door neighbor was the librarian. She probably learned the alphabet by searching the picture book shelves when she was still too little to go to school. She searched the K’s for Ezra Jack Keats, the S’s for William Steig and Maurice Sendak and the L’s for Leo Leonni. She started to dream about illustrating books herself.#On the way to becoming an illustrator, Ellen got distracted by a lot of other interesting things, so it took her a while to start making picture books. She always continued to learn about the world by drawing in a sketchbook. Now that she is finally doing her dream job, she is still inspired by her other interests, like painting, printmaking, people, science, plants, animals and graphic design.#Born in New England, Ellen carries the east coast in her heart while making her home in western Canada. She lives in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia with her husband and their dog. She loves to visit her big New England family, and the Atlantic Ocean, whenever she can.~Instagram: @ellenaroo