Mona Karaivanova is a freelance illustrator and an avid pencil fan. She works primarily on children’s book illustrations, pattern making and stationery. Mona is inspired by pine trees, long summer days, woodland creatures and good folk stories. She was born and grew up in Bulgaria, and is currently riding bikes in the Netherlands.

Kathleen Marcotte is an illustrator from the suburbs of Chicago. She earned her BFA in illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She loves to create playful illustrations that can appeal to both children and adults and has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration and 3×3 magazine. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

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

Stacy Curtis is an award-winning cartoonist, illustrator and printmaker. He has illustrated several children’s books, including The Seven Habits of Happy Kids and the Raymond and Graham chapter book series. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Zafouko Yamamoto is a Greek illustrator living and working in Thessaloniki, Greece. She started illustrating some years ago after finishing her studies as an architect, in small sketchbooks using the cheapest watercolors and colored pencils she could find. After years of experimenting and practice she realized that art is what she wants to do.#What she loves about illustrating for children’s books is the whole procedure, including research, first sketches, coloring and final editing in Photoshop.#She gets inspired by walking in nature or in the city and also by other artists’ work.~Instagram: @zafouko_yamamoto_illustrations