Monta Monaco Hernon is a freelance journalist and communications manager, with her work appearing everywhere from major newspapers like the Washington Post to unique, niche magazines. She is proud to serve on the board of an educational nonprofit, The Riverside Club for Adventure and Imagination, but her very favorite job is homeschooling her four children. Exploring nature together led to her debut children's book, Let's Go Birding! , which she hopes will inspire families and young explorers to head outside, look closely, and discover the wonders waiting in their own backyards. Darcie Olley is an illustrator based in the east of England. She graduated with a B.A. in Textiles in 2018. Her final collection at University, based on a series of weird and wonderful extinct animals, was selected by Sir Paul Smith to receive the Nicole Abbott Award.
Darcie spent some time working in the textile design industry, before deciding that illustration is where her heart lies. She uses a mixture of acrylic, watercolour, gouache, pencil, and digital techniques in her work, to create illustrations full of vibrancy, humour, and joy. Darcie's work is often inspired by her Indian heritage, her love for animals (you can often find her trying to make friends with the neighbourhood cats), and the funny and simple little things she notices about day-to-day life!.