Ursula was born and grew up in Sydney in a family of writers, and wanted to be a writer from the age of six. She is now the author of over 50 books for children and young adults and her work is published all over the world.

She has won several national literary awards, including the Victorian, Queensland and South Australian State Awards for literature, and has also won the NSW Premier's Literary Award a record five times, more than any other writer in the history of the awards.

Internationally she has been nominated for both the Hans Christian Andersen award and the Astrid Lindgren prize. She has a PhD in English literature and currently lives in Sydney.

Mitch Vane has had a long career working as an illustrator and artist. She is interested in all forms of visual story-telling using a variety of mediums but is at her happiest drawing with a good old-fashioned dip pen and Indian ink.

Mitch often collaborates with her partner Danny Katz – her cartoons appeared with his weekly humour column in The Age - and they have created many children's books together, including Aussie Bites - The Parents are Revolting and Big Bad Bunnies.

Mitch illustrated a series of 12 Zodiac themed stamps for Australia Post and has created many children's books with publishers both in Australia and the U.S.

She works from her studio at home in Melbourne, and does illustration workshops and appearances at libraries and schools throughout the year.