Ged was born in Liverpool and as a child he was obsessed with drawing, listening to music and making up tunes.
In 2016, his story about a short-sighted dog, Douglas You Need Glasses! received rave reviews and became his breakthrough picture book.
Ged has since written and illustrated many books including Shark Dog! and A Fox Found a Box.
He lives in London with his partner Helen and their son Rex.
Matt Ralphs is a freelance writer of children’s fiction and non-fiction. While working for many years as an editor he helped other writers create novels, comics, and lavish art books, including special editions made from engraved metal, branded wood and demon skin. He lives on the Grand Union Canal in England on a boat he christened Nostromo because Alien is his favourite film.
Rui Ricardo is a Portuguese illustrator based in Porto where he studied graphic design and academic drawing at the University of Fine Arts.
His illustrations have been published in major American and British magazines and he has worked with many prominent international brands and publishers.
As an avid backpacker, he has spent years travelling across Asia, Europe and bits of Africa and South America. This triggered a personal project consisting of Travel Posters that’s been developing for over ten years. The collection now consists of over 100 different illustrations.
When he’s not drawing, you’ll find him building and painting cardboard houses with his 5 year old daughter Laura (she loves big presents and Ikea because of the boxes!), riding his bicycle or playing the banjo and the ukulele.
Clare Helen Welsh is a picture book writer who loves dreaming up stories for young readers and their families to enjoy. For many years she was a primary school teacher, which ignited her love of storytelling, reading and role-play. Clare lives in Devon with her husband, two children and her dog, Hope. When she isn’t imagining new worlds and creating characters, she enjoys walking on the beach and in the countryside and takes lots of inspiration from the natural world.
Jenny Løvlie grew up in Northern-Norway on Ekkerøy, a tiny peninsula sticking out into the Barents Sea, where she was the first child to be born in 12 years. Summers were spent in the great outdoors under the never-setting sun, climbing rocks, watching the seagull-chicks hatching and rock-pooling and the dark winters reading, drawing and making.
Jenny studied Illustration & Animation at Kingston University in London, and graduated with a BA Hons in 2014. Her love of nature shines through in her work and she draws inspiration from the wild landscapes of Scandinavia, nordic folklore and Scandinavian design. She uses bold colours, interesting textures and strong shapes in creating landscapes, people and animals. Jenny is fascinated by the strong bond between humans and animals and the link between humans and nature. Jenny’s favourite things are going on adventures in her van, camping, bird-watching, cooking and reading.
Fred Small is a singer-songwriter, activist and Unitarian Universalist minister. He originally trained as a lawyer but left his job to pursue a career in music. In 1983, Fred wrote his classic song “Everything Possible”. Recorded and made famous by the iconic gay male a cappella group the Flirtations, the song has travelled around the world. Fred is a passionate advocate for equality, inclusion and environmental justice. He and his family live
near Boston in the USA.
Alison Brown grew up in Northern Ireland and studied Fine Art in Liverpool, England. Before becoming a full-time illustrator and writer, she did many other jobs, including teaching, working in a bookshop, and as a designer in an advertising agency. Alison’s books have been translated into fifteen languages. She was so inspired by the lyrics and message of “Everything Possible” that she knew she had
to illustrate it! Alison lives with her family in Leeds.
Karl Newson is a children’s book author and illustrator from London. He takes inspiration from songs and books and people and everything! His favourite things are elephants, stars and his two mini Mudwafflers. His least favourite thing is mashed potato – bleurgh! In his spare time he enjoys walking and listening to music from the 1960s (and singing along – badly – to them), and biscuits.
Rosalind Beardshaw is the illustrator of several books for Nosy Crow, including the bestselling When a Dragon Comes to Stay and I See the Moon.
She loves creating new characters, especially if they can be based loosely/wholly on her shaggy lurcher, Basil.
She lives in York with her partner, Al, daughter, Iris, and young son, Freddie, who loves watching Calamity Jane.
Chris is originally from Bradford and studied illustration and graphic design at Bradford College of Art. In 2000 he moved to France where, amongst other things, he was an English teacher before working in newspaper layout and design.
When his children were small he realised he loved the picture books he read to them, sometimes even more than his children did – the Picture Book Bug had truly bitten.
Chris has since written and illustrated several books and is currently thinking about the next one, probably with a cuppa in hand at home near Limoges.
He likes listening to and making music, wandering around the countryside, a bit of running and riding a bike. His favourite season is autumn and his favourite colour is green.
Patrice Lawrence is an award-winning writer. Her debut YA novel, Orangeboy, won the Bookseller YA Prize and the Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction and was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award. Her subsequent novels have been much acclaimed and frequent visitors to prize lists.
Patrice was born in Brighton, raised in an Italian-Trinidadian family in mid-Sussex, and now lives on the South Coast.
Patrice was awarded an MBE for Services to Literature in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021.
Camilla Sucre, a Trinidadian-American artist who resides in Baltimore, has found a different kind of home in narrative illustration. Interested in illustration since she was a child, her dreams are finally coming true as she loves to explore new avenues of artmaking and illustration and new stories to tell.
Camilla also has a passion for film and a natural love of movies and hopes she can one day express that in her work. Her favourite film is currently ‘The Red Shoes’, an old movie – which is very fitting because she loves old things!