Margaret Wild was born in South Africa and came to Australia in 1972. She has been a journalist on newspapers and magazines, and she worked as a book editor in children's publishing for sixteen years, responsible for managing and commissioning a large range of titles.
She has written more than seventy books and has been published around the world. Her numerous awards and distinctions include the Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year Award for Jenny Angel, illustrated by Anne Spudvilas; The Very Best of Friends, illustrated by Julie Vivas; and Fox, illustrated by Ron Brooks. In 2008 she received the Nan Chauncy Award for an outstanding contribution to children’s literature in Australia. Margaret Wild was the winner of the 2011 Lady Cutler Award. She lives in Sydney and writes full time.
Ann James was a secondary art teacher before she took up children's book illustration over twenty years ago. She has illustrated more than 50 books since then. Some well-loved favourites include the Penny Pollard series by Robin Klein, The Midnight Gang and The Midnight Feast by Margaret Wild, the Hannah series by Libby Gleeson, The Butterfly by Roger Vaughan Carr and most recently Little Humpty by Margaret Wild and Shutting the Chooks In by Libby Gleeson. Ann has written and illustrated two picture books of her own, One Day and Finding Jack. Most of her illustrations feature her own animals and she delights in being playful and experimental with the materials she chooses to work with. She and her friend Ann Haddon run Books Illustrated, a bookshop and gallery for book illustrations in Albert Park. Ann lives right opposite the dog beach in Melbourne, where she spends time thinking and walking with her dogs, Ollie and Kip.
