Salini Perera is a freelance illustrator from Toronto. She was born in Sri Lanka, raised in Scarborough, and has been making art for as long as she can remember. Now, she gets to make art for picture books, a lifelong dream come true. She lives in the city’s east end with her husband, Michael, and their two cats, Victoria and Albert.

Ohara Hale is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Montreal, Quebec. She was born in Hollywood and has visited and lived in many places throughout world. She works as a fine artist, illustrator, director, animator, voiceover actor, graphic designer and art director.

David Namisato lives in Toronto, and had started drawing pictures professionally in 2005. #But before that, David lived in rural Japan for two years, teaching English at six elementary schools. His office was next to a beach at the foot of a great mountain.#A year after returning to Canada, David kicked things off with drawing pictures for articles in the children’s magazine Know and, later, its sibling publication, Yes.#David then went on to draw the art for the comic series Gabe and Allie in Race through Time for the children’s history magazine Kayak, which showcased major moments in Canadian history.#Then there’s a huge gap where David didn’t work much on any children’s related material for several years until award-winning author J. Torres invited David to collaborate on a graphic novel pitch he was developing.#That pitch became Stealing Home, and it is David’s first graphic novel for children.#When he’s not drawing, David enjoys watching gadget review videos, reading manga, eating pastries, taking naps and looking at the CN Tower from his balcony.~Twitter: @davidnamisato~Instagram: @davidnamisato

Shrija Jain is an illustrator and a hand-lettering artist based in Oakville, Ontario, where she lives and works from her home studio, which is currently invaded by her collection of miniature figurines. A lot of people have a hard time pronouncing her name. It’s completely normal. She grew up in India and moved to Canada for further studies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in illustration from Sheridan College, which not only gave her an opportunity to try different mediums and art forms but also helped her discover ways to take her love for miniatures to her illustrations. After graduating, she has been working in the illustration and design field. She works primarily in pen and ink, creating the tiniest drawings that are later on blown up to a larger scale to add color. She is a tea lover who loves to create movement and energy in her work through color. She draws inspiration from minimalism and long morning walks in nature with some music on.#As a kid, seeing her thoughts come alive with a pencil in hand and a piece of paper only made her want to draw, discover and wonder more. Her first published book is My Words Flew Away Like Birds, where most of the characters drawn are inspired by people she met after she moved to Canada. Initially her words flew away like birds, too, but that was back then. A personal connection to the story made creating illustrations for the book even more special.#Her most favorite things (after a soft-bound sketchbook, two Micron pens and a 0.3 mm pencil) are her Batman pajamas, which she is quite possessive of.

Cale Atkinson was born and raised outside of Vancouver, British Columbia, surrounded by the Northwest forests and ocean. He grew up in a lively house full of various pets, including dogs, cats, hamsters, rats, parrots, hedgehogs and one very large iguana.#Ever since he can remember he has loved drawing and creating stories, be it through books, cartoons or comic strips.#Cale is now an author, illustrator and animator currently residing in Kelowna, British Columbia. You can usually find him up late drawing or watching cartoons with his wife, Jessika, and dog Charlie. His work can be found in animated shorts, video games and children’s books, including To the Sea, Explorers of the Wild, Where Oliver Fits, Off and Away and Sir Simon: Super Scarer.~Twitter: @2dCale~Instagram: @2dCale