Frances Watts was born in Switzerland and grew up in Australia. Her bestselling picture books include Goodnight Mice! (illustrated by Judy Watson), the winner of the 2012 Prime Minister's Award for Children's Fiction; 2006 CBC Honour Book Kisses for Daddy (ill. David Legge); and 2008 Children's Book Council of Australia award-winner Parsley Rabbit's Book about Books (ill. David Legge). The Raven's Wing, set in Ancient Rome, and The Peony Lantern, set in nineteenth-century Japan, are her first middle grade/YA novels.

Judy Watson, who is graphic designer and the illustrator of more than 20 children's books including Frances Watt's Goodnight Mice, winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Award (Children's Fiction) in 2012, and Katrina Germein's Thunderstorm Dancing, a CBCA Notable Book for 2016