BARRY BLITT

Canadian born Barry Blitt is an illustrator whose work has appeared in and on the cover of the New Yorker, as well as many other magazines and books. He has illustrated two children’s books, the newest of which is The 39 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven, which received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and Once Upon a Time, the End (Asleep in 60 Seconds), called "hilarious" in a starred review by Booklist. Barry is a recent resident of Washington, CT.

SANDRA BOYNTON

Over the past thirty-some-odd years, Sandra Boynton has created over 4,000 greeting card designs for Recycle Paper Greetings, and has written and illustrated forty-three books, published by Workman Publishing and Simon & Schuster. More recently, she has turned to songwriting and music producing. Her current project is Blue Moo: 16 Jukebox Hits from Way Back Never, with performances by Neil Sedaka, Patti LuPone, Brian Wilson, Davy Jones, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Five for Fighting. The Norman Rockwell Museum will present a Boynton retrospective in the winter of 2009. Ms. Boynton lives and works chaotically in Salisbury.

CARL CHAIET

Carl Chaiet was born and educated in Manhattan. He has worked in many mediums, but prefers the beauty and depth of ink and water. His drawings attempt to bridge the gap between fine art and classic illustration, reflecting his interest in architecture and perspective. He teamed with his wife, Lynn Kearcher to create the visually intricate illustrations for his two children’s books, Being Earnest and It Could Have Been A Rose.

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MICHAEL CHESWORTH

Michael Chesworth has worked in book publishing for over twenty years. Since going freelance in 1990 he has illustrated over thirty picture books for children and written three. Among these are Alphaboat (2002), Archibald Frisby (1994,) and Investor McGregor (2006), chosen by Bank Street College as one of the best picture books of the year. He is the illustrator of the omnibus edition of the well-

loved Pippi books by Astrid Lindgren. His watercolor paintings range in style from the humorous cartoons of Fluffy, Scourge of the Sea (2005) to Jingle the Brass (2004), a ride into the world of old-time railroading. He is a regular contributor to Cricket, Spider and Ladybug magazines. His most recent book is Princess Justina Albertina, by Ellen Dee Davidson (2007, Charlesbridge). Michael Chesworth lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with his wife, two  children, two cats and one very silly dog.

LAURA CORNELL

Born, raised and educated in California, Laura Cornell headed east to the land of publishing, New York City. Her work has appeared in many publications, including ones which no longer exist and some you've never heard of. Ones you might recognize: American Girl, Family Circle, New York magazine, The New York Times, Scholastic, Seventeen, Sports Illustrated. Most of her work now has shifted to children's books, with titles by Leah Komaiko (Annie Bananie, Earl's Too Cool for Me, Leonora O'Grady), Phyllis Root, and Sally Cook. She is now working on her eighth book by Jamie Lee Curtis. Laura is the only person she knows who has never had an idea for a children's book. She works and lives with her daughter, Lilly, in the same apartment she found thirty years ago when she arrived in New York.

ETIENNE DELESSERT

Etienne Delessert was born in 1941 in Switzerland, and now lives in Lakeville, Connecticut, with his wife Rita Marshall and their son Adrien. For more than thirty years this self-taught artist has been translating his—and the world’s—ideas, passions, fantasies and nightmares into the visual language of books, magazine illustrations, posters, animated films, paintings and sculptures. He has illustrated more than eighty books, some translated in 14 languages From his collaborations with such writers as Eugène Ionesco and Jean Piaget to his more recent award-winning A Long Long Song: Ashes, Ashes: Dance! he is considered one of the fathers of modern children’s picture books. He has been honored by the Premio Grafico of the Bologna World Children’s Book Fair (twice), by many medals from the American Society of Illustrators, and the 1996 Hamilton King Award. His one-man retrospective hung at the Musée des Arts decoratifs, in the Louvre; other retrospectives have traveled widely across Europe and the United States.

ANNA DEWDNEY

Anna Dewdney has illustrated over twenty-five books for both children and adults, including What You Do Is Easy, What I Do Is Hard, and several Matt Christopher books. When Llama Llama Red Pajama, the first picture book she both wrote and illustrated, was published in 2005, Kirkus Reviews wrote that it was “bound to become a comical classic oft-requested at bedtime.” Anna’s second book, Grumpy Gloria, about a very crabby bulldog, was released in Fall 200. Upcoming titles include Llama Llama Mad at Mama (Fall 2007), and Nobunny’s Perfect (Spring 2008). Anna regularly visits schools and libraries to discuss her work and how picture books are created.

BARBARA ENSOR

Brooklyn-based Barbara Ensor grew up zigzagging across the Atlantic Ocean as her family established homes in the United States, then England, then back to the United States, and so on. As an adult her career has similarly zigzagged between expressing herself with words, and with pictures. Only recently, with the 2006 publication of Cinderella (As If You Didn't Already Know the Story), has she found a way to happily combine both of these passions, Barbara's pictures have appeared in publications including Harper’s, Sports Illustrated and the New York Times. Her second book for children, Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride, will be published in June 2008. Barbara and her children Georgia and Dexter have spent more than ten summers in Cornwall. As the archivist for Yelping Hill Association. she enjoyed hearing member's stories about Maurice Sendak's participation in that a community many decades ago. In addition to writing and illustrating books. Barbara now teaches stop motion clay animation, also known as claymation.

VALORIE FISHER

Valorie Fisher is the author and illustrator of several children’s books, most recently How High Can a Dinosaur Count? Her other books include Ellsworth’s Extraordinary Electric Ears: And Other Amazing Alphabet Anecdotes; Nonsense!; My Big Brother; and My Big Sister. Valorie Fisher’s photographs have been widely exhibited and are in many museum collections including the Brooklyn Museum, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris

MICHAEL GARLAND

Michael Garland was born in Manhattan and grew up there and on Staten Island. He spent his childhood roaming the woods, playing sports, crossing the street without looking both ways, and drawing. Drawing was the thing he did best, and after high school, he went Pratt Institute to study art. Soon after graduating, he sold his first illustration to True Confessions magazine, the beginning of a thirty-two-year career of illustrating everything you can imagine. Sixteen years ago, he decided he wanted to be a writer as well as an artist. And since then he has authored and illustrated twenty-one published books, as well as illustrated twenty-five for other authors, among them Gloria Estefan and James Patterson. His illustrations for Patterson’s story “Santakid,” were the inspiration for Saks Fifth Avenue’s Christmas windows. Along the way he married Peggy and had three children, Katie, Alice and Kevin. He lives with his family in Putnam County, New York.

SUSANNA GRETZ

Susanna Gretz has written and illustrated children’s picture books since the late 1960s—most recently for Walker Books in London, where she lives. They are published by Candlewick in the United States. Her mother, Helen Tennant, lives in Cornwall.

BRIAN KARAS

G. Brian Karas was born George Brian Karas in Milford, Connecticut in 1957. He is the prolific and versatile illustrator and writer of many children’s books including On Earth, Today and Today; Atlantic, an ALA Notable book; Saving Sweetness by Diane Stanley; the Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor title Home on the Bayou; and Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! He lives with his family in the Hudson Valley of New York.

EDITH KUNHARDT  

In 1940, Dorothy Kunhardt created a little book for her daughter, Edith. The book, Pat the Bunny, started a new trend in children's writing and has since become one of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over seven million copies. Barbara Bader, in American Picture Books, speaks of Kunhardt's “noble nonsense that, like Lear's, could be at once ridiculous and poignant.” Edith Kunhardt Davis has followed in her mother's footsteps, authoring seventy-seven children's books and illustrating twenty-five. Some of her work has built on Dorothy Kunhardt's model, with immensely popular sequels such as Pat the Cat and Pat the Puppy, while other books include I'm Going to Be a Police Officer, Pompeii—Buried Alive! and Honest Abe, which was honored by the New York Times in 1998.

JEAN MARZOLLO 

Jean Marzollo is the award winning author of over 100 books, including the best-selling I Spy books and the Shanna Show books. Her recent passion is illustrating her own books, such as Greek myths, including Pandora’s Box and Let’s Go Pegasus! Other recent books she has both written and illustrated are: Little Bear, You're A Star; Daniel in the Lions’ Den; Miriam and Her Brother Moses; David and Goliath; and Ten Little Eggs. She lives in Cold Spring, New York.

ROBERT ANDREW PARKER

Although Robert Andrew Parker did not intend to become an illustrator, he has been called “today one of America’s most influential.” Born in Norfolk, Virginia, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and has been exhibiting his prints and paintings in New York and internationally since 1952. He has illustrated over eighty books, for both the broad public and limited editions, including one with the poet Marianne Moore published by the Museum of Modern Art. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and grants from the Institute of Arts and Letters and the National Academy. Also a jazz drummer, he lives in Cornwall.

GISELLE POTTER 

Until she decided missing school was too disruptive and she wanted to become a normal teenager, Giselle Potter performed and traveled with her sister Chloe and her parents’ puppet theater, The Mystic Paper Beasts. After high school and before attending Rhode Island School of Design, she went to Indonesia by herself and studied Balinese miniature paintings. Later, in Rome, she painted lots of pictures of saints. Cornwall’s own Anne Schwartz offered her a first children’s book, Mr. Semolina-Semolinus, and she has illustrated over twenty since, including The Year I Didn’t Go to School, about the experience of doing street theater in the piazzas of Europe with her parents. Her latest endeavors are The Boy Who Loved Words (2006), and The Littlest Grape Stomper (2007). Giselle now lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband, a furniture maker, and her two daughters Pia and Isabel, who are just discovering for themselves the endless joy of making pictures.

JAMES RANSOME

A graduate of Pratt Institute, James Ransome recently completed three murals for the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is both an illustrator and painter, with work exhibited in both private and public art collections. His exhibit Visual Stories has been appearing in galleries and museums throughout the country since 2003. In addition to painting and lecturing, James has illustrated over forty books. His Sky Boys received a 2006 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. He has also received the Pratt Institute Alumni Achievement Award, the Coretta Scott King award, the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance Award, as well as recognition from the NAACP, the Society of Illustrators and several Hudson Valley area institutions. A professor at Syracuse University, James lives in Rhinebeck, New York with his wife, Lesa and four children.

MARC SIMONT

Marc Simont has illustrated nearly a hundred books for children and worked with authors as diverse as Ruth Krauss, James Thurber, and City Lansing. He is the winner of both the Caldecott Honor and the Caldecott Medal. His most recent books include Secret Lives of Walter Mitty and James Turber, The Stray Dog (which he wrote and illustrated), and The Goose That Almost Got Cooked.  He started contributing political cartoons to the Lakeville Journal during the Eisenhower years, and has continued doing so on and off ever since. These drawings, he notes, are opinions, not editorial cartoons.

ELWOOD SMITH

DIRK ZIMMER

Dirk Zimmer has illustrated about thirty-five books for children and is currently writing and illustrating another one, titled Miss Marabou’s Class. He is also ghost-writing a book for Richard Z. Rodent titled Why Humans Disgust Me.

DAN YACCARINO

Whether it’s his award-winning illustrations for magazines, his popular children’s books, his unique imagery in advertising campaigns, exhibitions of his paintings, or his animated television series, Dan Yaccarino’s work has been enjoyed by millions around the world. Dan has worked with such prestigious children’s authors as Margaret Wise Brown, Jack Prelutsky, Kevin Henkes and Naomi Shabib Nye. He has published dozens of books and been invited to the White House to share his books and participate in the annual Easter festivities. He is also the creator and producer of the whimsical world of Oswald, an animated television series for preschoolers seen by children everywhere. His new series, Willa's Wild Life, based on his book, An Octopus Followed Me Home, will premiere on the Discovery Channel in 2008. Currently he is writing and illustrating more books and developing more television and feature film projects.