Ruth Spiro

Ruth Spiro is an award-winning children's book author and freelance writer whose articles, essays, and stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies. Her debut picture book, Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist (Dutton), won awards from Writer's Digest and Willamette Writers and was a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year.

Ruth says, "Creativity is a matter of perspective. Looking at things up close, and also from a distance. Taking elements apart, then putting them back together. Trying new combinations to see what fits. An idea is only the beginning. Where you take it is what makes it art."

Learn more about Ruth on her website. 

Pascal Lemaître

Pascal Lemaître is the illustrator of several books for children, including Who's Got Game? The Ant or the Grasshopper? (Simon & Schuster, 2003), Who's Got Game? The Lion or the Mouse? (Simon & Schuster, 2003)—both New York Times bestsellers—as well as Who's Got Game? Poppy or the Snake? (Simon & Schuster, 2004), and The Book of Mean People (Hyperion, 2002), all by Toni and Slade Morrison. Pascal also created the artwork for Supercat (Workman, 2002), Supercat to the Rescue (Workman, 2002), and Baby Goose (Hyperion, 2004), all by Kate McMullan, Do Not Open This Book! by Michaela Muntean (Scholastic, 2006), and the Doctor Ted series by Andrea Beaty (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008). Pascal's more recent books include Hush Baby Ghostling by Andrea Beaty, Always by Alison McGhee, Let's Get a Checkup by Alan Katz, Bulldog's Big Day by Kate McMullan, Goodnight Dragons by Judith L. Roth, and a retelling of Pinocchio by Kate McMullan. He also illustrated Come With Me by Holly McGhee, to be published September 5, 2017.

Pascal was born in Belgium in 1967. He began illustrating in 1989, and now also teaches visual narration in Brussels at La Cambre, a school created by H. Van de velde where he once studied. Pascal spends his year between Brussels, Brooklyn, and Trouville with his wife, Manou, and their daughter, Maelle...and their dog, Doodle.

Learn more about Pascal on his website.

 

Anna Raff 2017

Anna Raff is an award-winning illustrator of several books for children including If I Were A Kangaroo, World Rat Day, A Big Surprise For Little Card, and You Are Not A Cat. Currently, she is at work on Light Waves, her fourth science picture book collaboration with author David A. Adler, and The Day The Earth Exploded My Head, a poetry book about the solar system, written by Allan Wolf.

Before her career as an illustrator, Anna was a designer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and several children’s book publishers in New York City. She is on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts, has an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, a BA from Connecticut College, and lives in New York City, where there are reportedly four rats per human resident.

Learn more about Anna on her website.

Holly McGhee

Holly McGhee started writing in 2007 under pen name Hallie Durand when the character Dessert Schneider barged into her life one morning while she was pleasantly reading on New Jersey transit. Dessert demanded that her story be told, in her own words, and so Holly obliged. She has written three chapter books about her in all (Dessert First, Just Desserts, and No Room for Dessert). Under her pen name, she has also written three picture books, two about a boy named Mitchell who likes to drive and knock things down (Mitchell’s License and Mitchell Goes Bowling) and one about her son Marshall who believes that gingerbread men can run (Catch That Cookie!).

When her first middle-grade novel was sold, she decided to integrate both sides of her publishing life, as a writer and literary agent and founder of Pippin, and from here on you can find her books under her given name Holly M. McGhee. Look for Matylda, Bright and Tender in Spring 2017 from Candlewick Press and Come with Me, a picture book for all ages, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre, in Fall 2017 from G. P. Putnam's.

Her dot was created by her daughter, McGhee Louise Steiner, to whom Matylda Bright and Tender is dedicated. Holly writes, "She wanted it to look like a snow globe. And my book is dedicated to her, my middle child—a force in the universe. Part of the reason I kept going on with writing is because she insisted and I didn't want to disappoint her by not finishing; I didn't want to set that kind of example as a parent."

Rowboat Watkins

Rowboat Watkins is mostly a dad who likes to tell stories and draw. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. He is the author of Rude Cakes. He won a 2016 Ezra Jack Keats Book Award New Illustrator Honor.

Rowboat Watkins isn't his real name, it's what his wife has called him for the past twenty years. He writes, "Why Rowboat? Well...I'm the first to admit I'd be a lousy speedboat. And I'm way too shy to be a showboat. And way too weak to be a tugboat. And too gloomy to be a love boat. And (Sadly) not swashbuckling enough to be a dream boat. And no one wants to be called a dinghy. So that left rowboat. Nothing fancy, but great to have around when the ship starts sinking.

Learn more about Rowboat on his website.

Jessixa Bagley

Jessixa Bagley's career has been a mix of comics, fine art, and illustration. She has worked with publications such as: The Chicago Reader, The Seattle Weekly, The Stranger, Nickelodeon Magazine, and Highlights. In 2007, she was a selected artist for New American Paintings No. 73. And in 2009 she received a GAP Grant from the Washington State arts organization Artist Trust for her fine art drawing. Her love of picture books has been the constant goal of her entire life and has always been a working focus. Her debut picture book, Boats for Papa came out June 2015 followed up by Before I Leave in February 2016. Her third picture book, Laundry Day, comes out in February 2017. She is currently working on her first collaborative picture book, Vincent Comes Home, with her husband, Aaron Bagley. They are both writing and doing the illustrations together. It's due out winter 2018. All of her picture books are with Neal Porter for Roaring Brook Press.

She lives in Seattle, Washington in a castle in the sky with her wonderful husband, painfully adorable son, and a slew of houseplants that all have names.

Learn more about Jessixa on her website. 

Liza Woodruff 2016

Liza Woodruff is the illustrator of over 20 picture books. This summer saw the publication of her first picture book as author illustrator: Emerson Barks, Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt, August 2016.

Liza lives in Northern Vermont with her husband, two children, two dogs, a rabbit and a guinea pig. She finds inspiration around her at home and in the rural and often snowy landscape.

To learn more about Liza and see more of her work, please visit: www.lizawoodruff.com