Julia Donaldson is the author of some of the world's best-loved children's books, including modern classics The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child, which together have sold over 27.5 million copies worldwide, and the hugely successful What the Ladybird Heard adventures. Julia also writes fiction, including the Princess Mirror-Belle chapter books illustrated by Lydia Monks, as well as poems, plays, and songs. She was Children's Laureate 2011-13 and has been honoured with a CBE for Services to Literature. Julia divides her time between West Sussex and Edinburgh. Catherine Rayner studied illustration at Edinburgh College of Art. She still lives there with her young family and a small menagerie of creatures, all of whom inspire her work. In 2006, Catherine won the Best New Illustrator Award at the Booktrust Early Years Awards, and was awarded the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in 2009.

In addition to illustrating for other authors such as Michael Bond, Holly Webb, and Michael Morpurgo, she is also an author in her own right. Catherine's picture books for Macmillan include: Otto the Top Dog, Victor: The Wolf with Worries, Five Bears, Mini and the Hardly Big Adventure, Arlo: The Lion Who Couldn't Sleep, Ernest, Solomon Crocodile, Solomon and Mortimer, and the Smelly Louie, winner of 2015 Peter's Book of the Year Award in 2015. Together, Julia and Catherine are also the creators of The Go-Away Bird and The Bowerbird.