Rachna Gilmore

When Rachna was a young girl, she loved to read and daydream about stories. Now that she’s older, she still loves to read and daydream, but she also loves to write stories. She is the best-selling author of over eighteen children’s books. She has written books for children of all ages, including picture books, early readers, middle grade and young adult novels. Rachna’s books have won many awards, including the Governor General’s Award, and have been translated into over a dozen languages.

The idea for MAKING GRIZZLE GROW came to her on a winter’s day, way back in 1992, when she gazed out at her snowy backyard and began to daydream. Rachna was born in India, and has lived in London, England, Prince Edward Island and now lives in Ottawa. Besides reading and writing, she loves to garden, go for long hikes and eat spicy food. She turned fifty-five in 2008, and celebrated by going skydiving.

Leslie Elizabeth Watts was born in Weston, Ontario in 1961. She grew up in Toronto and was in kindergarten at John Ross Robertson Public School when she decided that she wanted to be a children’s book author and illustrator. Since then she has illustrated thirteen picture books, three of which she wrote herself. She has won two Arthur Ellis Awards for Best Short Story; the Saskatchewan Shining Willow Award, 2006, for You Can’t Rush a Cat (written by Karleen Bradford); Foremost Magazine Book of the Year, Honorable Mention, 2006, for The Baabaasheep Quartet; and the Amelia Frances Howard Gibbon Illustrator’s Award, 2006, for The Baabaasheep Quartet. Leslie lives in Stratford, Ontario, where, aside from painting a lot of pictures, she is presently co-writing a stage musical adaptation of The Baabaasheep Quartet.