Russell Ayto was born in Sussex and raised in Oxfordshire, England, where he used to run wild, make things and draw. But not necessarily all at the same time.#He was keen on science too, once accidentally setting fire to his chemistry partner’s hair without them noticing. Eventually, he ended up working as a medical laboratory scientific officer in the Department of Histopathology at the John Radcliffe II Hospital in Oxford. Which he successfully managed to not set on fire. It was there that Russell’s boss saw one of his paintings and wondered why Russell wasn’t doing art …#So, he left to do art at Exeter College of Art and Design.#A few years later, he moved to Cornwall, where he still lives with his family, illustrating books for various children’s publishers and, more recently, writing his own stories, too.#Russell was the art director on the animated short film The Cow That Almost Missed Christmas, produced by the BBC and Baby Cow Productions. His picture book series Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs, written by Giles Andreae, was also made into an animated television series.#Russell loves comedy, from Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy to Spike Milligan and Monty Python, and artists such as Picasso, David Hockney, George Grosz, Saul Bass and 18th century English caricaturists.#Today, Russell’s wife has declared him to be a very successful recluse, working happily away for days on end in perfect solitude. She has promised to inform the children in the unlikely event that Russell ever manages to emerge from his studio more than once a year to go to the shops.~Twitter: @RussellAyto

T.L. McBeth was born in Findlay, Ohio. As a child, he grew up reading Dr. Seuss and H.A. & Margret Rey (although he mainly looked at the pictures). He studied illustration in college, where he developed his love of expressive and minimalist characters. In 2015, he moved to New York City to pursue an illustration career and he is currently lucky enough to illustrate picture books full-time. T.L. works from his small apartment in Manhattan, where he spends most of his time. When he does leave the house, he likes to watch the dogs in the neighborhood dog park and visit bookstores for inspiration. He is the illustrator of Stegothesaurus and the Big Words Small Stories series, and is also currently writing and illustrating a few books of his own. His work has been featured on Threadless and displayed at the Society of Illustrators.~Instagram: @t.l.mcbeth~Twitter: @T_L_Mcbeth

Born and raised in Montreal, Marilyn Faucher is an honours graduate of UQAM’s graphic design program, specializing in illustration. Her contemporary style brings a fresh perspective to traditional techniques, resulting in sensitive yet vibrant illustrations. As a child, Marilyn used to play in the woods with her friends, looking for a secret world. She would talk to, draw and write stories about the animals that crossed her path. Even at a young age, she was passionate about drawing. When she’s not working on her various illustration projects, Marilyn finds inspiration in ghost stories, woods, witches, animals and adventures. Marilyn now lives in a small town not far from Montreal with her cat named Feta. She still hopes that, one day, she will discover a secret world. ~Instagram: @marilynfaucher

Shane W. Evans has created pictures for over 50 books for children, choosing an illustration style to suit each one, and his work has received many awards and honors. He has worked with well-known authors, including Taye Diggs, Shaquille O’Neal, Andrea Davis Pinkney and Holly Robinson Peete. He has been honored with two Jane Addams Honor Book awards for Lillian’s Right to Vote and for We March, which he wrote as well as illustrated. Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom, which he also wrote and illustrated, won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper’s Daughter, collected and edited by Alan Governar, was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book and an Orbis Pictus Honor Book. Shane was also awarded the prestigious NAACP Image Award for his collaborative work with the Peete family on the book My Brother Charlie.

Ashley Barron is a multimedia artist who is best known for her paper collage work. She is the illustrator of several children’s books, including Kids Can Press’s Birthdays Around the World and My Forest is Green.#Ashley grew up in the Oshawa/Whitby region of southern Ontario with her parents, younger sister and their many pet dogs and rabbits. Ashley’s love for books was ignited at an early age thanks to her mother, a preschool teacher, who kept an extensive collection of children’s literature in their spare bedroom. Although Ashley was very much an outdoorsy kid, she savored rainy indoor days, which allowed her the freedom to daydream, read and draw pictures to her heart’s content.#Ashley’s love for art and literature followed her into adulthood. She graduated from the illustration program at Ontario Collage of Art & Design in 2007 and has been working as a freelance illustrator ever since.#Ashley lives in Toronto with her cinematographer partner, Kevin. Together they share a bright, plant-filled studio with their three cats.~Instagram: @_ashleybarron