Karen Obuhanych is an author-illustrator living on the Big Island of Hawaii with her family, including two crazy cats, a spotted pig dog, various fish, and one glowing axolotl. She wrote and illustrated This Little Kitty and This Little Kitty in the Garden and has illustrated several books for young readers. Inspired by Hawaii and the simple joys in life, you will often find Karen drawing or cutting bits of paper to capture the everyday moments that make us smile. Karen’s favorite way to say hello is “Smile, smile . . . WAVE!”

Angel is a children’s author who believes that stories are a bit like magic, especially when they are read aloud or wandered into all on their own.

She loves writing funny, heartfelt, or meaningful tales that bring children and their grown-ups closer together. When she isn’t doing that, Angel can usually be found laughing with her family, exploring nature somewhere or dancing around to her favourite music.

Chris Becker is a second grade teacher from New York who spends his days reading silly stories, tying shoelaces, answering endless questions, and helping kids discover a love of books. He’s passionate about storytelling, both in and out of the classroom, and believes there’s nothing better than a read-aloud that makes everyone laugh.
When he’s not teaching, Chris loves running (he’s finished a few marathons), hanging with friends and family, and spending time with his dog Oliver and cat Jasper.
His debut picture book, The Perfect Match, is just the beginning-he’s excited to keep writing stories that connect with kids and spark joy.

Dan Taylor was born in Staffordshire UK and has been working as children’s illustrator for over 15 years. Dan’s most recently illustrated book Papa’s Coming Home written by Chasten Buttigieg and published by Penguin made it to the New York Times Bestseller list. Dan is also illustrator of the Mini Heroes of the Forest series by Auzou which has been adapted into a preschool series for French and Italian tv and is soon to be shown in more countries.

Dan finds much of his inspiration from 1950’s and 60’s design and creates his illustrations digitally combining hand painted textures and elements and putting it all together using his trusty iPad. When not illustrating, Dan also teaches art to children with special educational needs – and when he’s not teaching, he can be found napping, trying to stay healthy and enjoying his time with family and friends.

Rachel is a tremendous ambassador for football and at one time was the highest capped player in England across both the men’s and women’s game.

Starting her career at Arsenal she moved on to short spells in Canada and the USA before becoming the first professional female footballer in 2000 when she joined Fulham. Rachel then joined Birmingham before returning to Arsenal.

Rachel runs her own business coaching football in schools and is very passionate about her work and having a positive impact in education. She is involved in various campaigns outside of football utilising interest in the game to reach wider issues.

Also well known for her media work as presenter of Cbeebies ‘Footy Pups’ as well as doing punditry for the BBC, BT, SKY, ITV and as a guest on various other shows and news shows.

Rachel was awarded an MBE in 2006 and an OBE in 2014 for her services to football.

Having always had a passion for drawing throughout her childhood, Ella chose to study an art & design diploma at Kingston Art College when she was 16. Her style is influenced by strong shapes, simplicity & a large sprinkling of imagination. Ella draws with passion, texture and tiny details to create memorable picture books that will inspire & delight young readers.

Her illustrations may often appear simple, but always make sure to look out for the details she hides in them.a lot like life, there’s always magic to be found somewhere.

I went to ten different schools (that’s a lot). I was always that new kid. Along the way, I learned that if I could make people laugh, then things would generally be okay, so that’s what I’ve carried on doing. I ended up working as a writer at Channel 4, I’ve also written a John Lewis Christmas advert and lots of children’s books. They’ve been translated into over 25 languages and twice been named ‘Books of the Year’ in The Guardian.

(That’s a photo of me hoping you’re about to laugh.)

Saskia Gwinn is an author of children’s books. She has worked in children’s publishing for nearly 20 years, crafting best-selling, award-winning non-fiction books to inspire kids on almost everything from how time began to the silliest things in the world today. She lives in Hertfordshire with her two boys who hope dinosaurs will one day revisit Earth.

Lily Dyu lives in a valley in Wales, UK. Growing up, she wanted to be a writer, then an astronaut. Her favorite things are running in the mountains, camping, and watching the night sky. Through her writing, she loves to tell true stories about people from all over the world.

Adeola is a writer-illustrator from London. She is an obsessive doodler and lover of fantasy stories. She also writes her own graphic novels. She studied Computer Visualisation and Animation at Bournemouth University. Adeola works for an animation company as a Studio Senior Lighting & Compositing Artist.

The illustrator Belinda Chen has brought a wonderful authenticity and depth to this book, filling the scenes with symbols of the celebration including festival foods, bamboo, red money envelopes, firecrackers, the Chinese knot as well as two hidden Chinese characters to discover!

Belinda is now based in Yorkshire, but she grew up in a family-run ceramic factory in North Taiwan and speaks so wonderfully of her experience celebrating Lunar New Year:

I grew up in a big family that spoke a mixture of dialogues – Mandarin, Taiwanese and Hakka. Our family love celebrating all kinds of Chinese events and for me, Lunar New Year was always one of the highlights. There are lots of big family gatherings, feasts, receiving red envelopes from relatives, playing card games with cousins, watching colourful dragon dance parade on the street and when the New Year comes the fireworks would go all night long.

Now I live in UK with my family, we have a 6-year-old daughter. We try to recreate the spirit of LNY with family/friends. We make dumplings, write Chinese calligraphy, give each other red envelopes with good wishes for the new year. I am so excited to have had the opportunity to illustrate and share my experience of LNY.