Sally Rippin was born in Darwin and grew up in South-East Asia. As an adolescent she studied traditional Chinese painting for three years in Shanghai and Hangzhou. Returning to Australia, Sally began to write and illustrate both picture books and junior novels, influenced by her time in China. Sally then moved to France for three years but returned to Melbourne recently, where she now lives with her partner and three children. She won the 1997 Crichton Award for Fang Fang's Chinese New Year. Illustrator Craig Smith has illustrated over 300 books in a 30-year career. He was once a rust scraper on the Sydney Harbour Bridge but is now one of Australia's most popular illustrators with a style that is energetic, individual, carefully observed and full of life and humour. His witty, humorous artwork is enormously popular with children combining a wonderful sense of the absurd with a fine eye for detail.