Jodi was born in the Mallee at Hopetoun and grew up on a wheat farm outside a small town called Beulah. As a child, she was fascinated with stories, reading on her own well before she went to school.

When she didn’t have her nose in a book, Jodi spent her time drawing or writing. She had two dreams: becoming an English teacher and writing picture books for children. Fast forward several decades, we now find Jodi juggling the roles of full timeteacher, mother, and performer.

This might seem more than enough for some, but not for Jodi, recently adding one more string to her bow and following her childhood dream of becoming an author.

In her spare time, Jodi loves creating artworks and spending time on her bush block with her husband, her two beautiful children and the ever-growing menagerie of chickens, ducks, dogs, and rabbits that share their home.

Tannya Harricks's award-winning art practice draws on her experience in graphic design, illustration, life drawing and textile design. Her oil paintings, for which she has been awarded the Waverley and Hornsby Art Prizes, have been exhibited in Sydney, New Zealand and Florence. She has also been a finalist in many prominent Australian art awards including the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, Gallipoli Art Prize and the Gold Coast Art Prize. She has previously illustrated Dingo by Claire Saxby and Mallee Sky by Jodi Toering for the Walker Books list. Dingo was joint winner of the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature at the NSW Premier's Literary Award (2019); won the Royal Zoological Society of NSW's Whitley Award (2018); and was shortlisted in 2019 for the CBCA New Illustrator Award, and Best Picture Book in the Educational Publishing Awards.