Biographical note

Jeanne Willis was born in St Albans, Herts, in 1959. As a young girl she sought adventures though writing comic strips and books. After completing a copywriting course at Watford Art College she went on to work in advertising. Today, Jeanne is an internationally renowned, full-time writer and has published over a hundred books – ranging from picture books including The Bog Baby and Who's in the Loo?, to YA, poetry and fiction. She has won several awards, including the Children's Book Award, the Silver Smarties Prize and has also been shortlisted for the Whitbread Award.

Ross Collins was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Growing up he was particularly fond of drawing the bionic man and precariously swinging backwards on chairs. He went on to study illustration at the Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 1994 and in the same year he won the Macmillan Children’s Book Prize for the The Sea Hole. Since then he has gone on to illustrate over 100 books and has written several too. His picture book The Elephantom was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and has now been staged at London's Royal National Theatre by the creative team behind Warhorse and in 2016 This Zoo is Not for You won the inaugural Amnesty CILIP Honour. When Ross is not creating children’s books he enjoys working on character development for animation studios such as Laika and Disney. He lives with his partner Jacqui, his young son, and his dog Hugo, in Scotland.