About Dixi Books
About
The calendar marks the change of a year or a century; however, it does not reflect the spirit of the new age. We are heading into the 21st century, and although humanity has long been present on this planet, remnants of past centuries continue to obstruct our politics, philosophy, ecology, and so forth.
Dixi Books aims to be the voice of the New Age. Humanity has ever new problems to address, and it has already been proved that these problems cannot be dealt with using out-dated practices. We cannot meet the new needs and tastes in art and literature using old methods of understanding. We need brand new novels, creative political discourses, schools of thought that fit the age, intellectuals who can articulate new knowledge, and publishing houses that will represent them.
“This new century has tied cultures tightly through new technological possibilities and accelerated travel opportunities, thus creating areas in which diverse cultures influence one other to a great extent.”
Within this context, these advancements and consequent needs present various challenges to the publishers of all sorts to produce supranational, unique, and authentic works.
With an ever-growing list of publications in literature, ecology, history, education, sociology, and philosophy, Dixi Books is inviting writers from all around the world to join us in providing fresh ways of understanding for those who seek it.
Our books are original, creative, innovative, participative, surprising, and exciting. In order to perform a shift from out-dated paradigms, we are calling writers and readers to join us in going beyond the ordinary.
We are with Greta Fridays For Future
Our Mission
Our Vision
Meet Our Team
We are awesome.
Janet Laugharne & Jacqueline Harrett
Author
Nagma Tabassum
Intern /Illustrator
When Nagma first used her hands for colouring in kindergarten, she knew that this was the world she wanted to get lost in.
Currently, she is pursuing Masters in Design from National Institute of Fashion Technology. She deeply enjoys making illustrations and cartoons. In her free time, she is a writer on Instagram where she has more than 120k audience. She writes quotes, captions, and edits videos.
Andrea Bailey
Editor
Writing has been her passion ever since. Unlike other kids expecting toys as gifts, she was always given books by those who knew her passion. In time, she has acquired a huge library and a love for books that never wore off.
Andrea has now turned her passion to a job, she is working happily as an editor.
E-mail: andrea@dixibooks.com
Julian Rose
Author
Jessica Miller
Illustrator
Jessica has been interested in art and painting from an early age and has a degree within this field in painting, drawing and printmaking. She has previously volunteered at zoos, where she became inspired by wildlife and started painting some of the animals she was working with, and now works with young children in a primary school in Devon. When Jessica’s sister Lorraine asked her to illustrate her wonderful children’s stories, combining her love of animals, art and child education into one project, she couldn’t think of anything better!
Marika Monesi
Illustrator
Marika Monesi is an Italian artist born in 1992. She has always had a strong passion for drawing and photography and this leads her to choose graphics and photography in high school, where graduated in 2011. She almost immediately starts working as a graphic designer and e-commerce photographer for several companies in the fashion and food industry. In addition to her main job, she works as a cosplay photographer and opened her own shop of stationery products decorated with her drawings, then she decided to take her first steps in children’s publishing, to make one of her dreams come true. She tried many techniques, both digital and traditional, going from hyper realism to childish illustration in order to define her own style. Now, as a good collector of picture books she dreams of adding hers to the library, too!
Joyeeta Neogi
Illustrator / Artist
Joyeeta worked in the garment industry for four years before returning to school to study graphic arts and illustration. Soon after, she began her career as a children’s book illustrator.
Her love for nature inspires her bright and colourful illustrations. Her style is a blend of illustration and realism.
Ian Chambers
Author
Ian Chambers is an Academic Associate of Pembroke College, Cambridge and a Supervisor at Robinson College, Cambridge he gained his BA (Hons) and MA from the University of Warrick and then travelled across the Atlantic to complete his doctorate at the University of California. He has published in several academic journals including the American Indian Quarterly, Imago Mundi, and the Journal of Cherokee Studies. He has been the recipient of a Visiting Fellowship at the Institute for Southern Studies, Columbia, South Carolina, and a John R. Rockefeller Library Fellowship Colonial Williamsburg Virginia.
AJ Collins
Accredited Editor – Literature
AJ is a fully qualified, accredited freelance editor and professional writer. She is approachable, understanding of writers’ sensitivities and always passionate about words on the page.
AJ specialises in long-form works: novels, memoir, biography, some self-help books.
Oksana Bula
Illustrator / Artist
Oksana always wanted to be a pickman. She also wanted to be a police officer. At home she has a place on the wall to draw stories. She has another place under the carpet.After some time drawings moved from the wall to the Academy of Arts. At the academy, she learned the art of glass making.
Oksana always wanted to be lost in the forest.
Kelsie Blanthorn
Editor – Non-Fiction
Meteoros Garage
Illustrator / Artist
Meteoros from Guatemala has a passion for illustration and character design. From an early age, his art has been influenced by animated series, comics, books, manga, and video games. Since childhood, he’s dreamed of immersing himself in graphic expressions, of showing his work to the world, and communicating the ideas that are in his head.
Virginia Elena Patrone
Author / Illustrator
Virginia Elena Patrone was born in Italy in 1985. An artist, author and illustrator, her
works have been presented in various museums and galleries throughout Italy.
Her
interests include the political food approach, and sustainable and traditional
architecture techniques.
Amelina Jones
Illustrator / Artist
Amelina Jones is an illustrator and writer with a passion for nature, tea and stories. She works in traditional watercolour and ink and likes to incorporate lots of story-telling elements and emotions into her work. The gentle form of watercolour mixed with her unique whimsical style create illustrations that aim to enhance a story and bring it to life.
You can find more of AJ’s work on her website www.amelinajones.com
Kathleen R. Smythe
Author
Kathleen R. Smythe is a history professor and chair of the History Department at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Smythe enjoys the challenge of addressing questions of contemporary relevance through historical investigation in the classroom and through writing and research. An African historian, she has years of fieldwork experience in Tanzania, East Africa. Her second book, Africa’s Past, Our Future (2015) highlighted ideas and institutions in African history and culture that broaden our imagination about what is possible—socially, politically, and economically. She lives in Cincinnati and delights in developing an ever-stronger sense of place and community.
Gulus G. Turkmen
Author
Gulus Turkmen grew up in Brussels, Belgium, studying Antique Languages and Literature. She had her bachelors degree in Communication Design in International Design School CAD. She worked as a marketing communication expert in several NGOs as well as the private sector. She is still working as an International Communication Expert at Hacettepe University Teknokent.
Gulus, a mother to a boy and a girl, realized that every mother spends a lot of effort for raising their children, but not all of these efforts produced a positive result. She finally developed the Map of Motherhood© application, in which she could evaluate the approach and practices of a mother to her child, and devised the concept of “Sustainable Good Parenthood”.
Rob Austin
Writer
Robert Austin lives by the mantra – yes is the answer, now what’s the question? Always making and doing several things at the same time, and has been referred to as the real life Caractacus Potts. He spends his time flitting between projects in Scotland, Oxford and France, making weird and wonderful things; never finishing any of them. He’s been telling stories for longer than he can remember encouraging young people to have a go at things they thought they couldn’t possibly do. Never stuck for words, he sees the extraordinary in all aspects of life, and has written only technical books thus far. Teaming up with an aspiring illustrator he thought he’d share some of his imagination through books for children. His first book in this genre introduces us to Li & Miss Bee who embark on unlimited adventures; much like the author.
Fabiana Farcas
Illustrator / Artist
Fabiana Farcas was born in Romania in a very small town called Arad. Her enthusiasm for drawing emerged when she was very young, about five years old. After graduating, she turned her hand to digital art. Occasionally, she will revisit traditional methods such as watercolour on paper.
The art Fabiana most loves to create is illustration, especially if it has a focus on bright colours, the whimsical, fairies and fairy worlds, children, or nature. She also loves dogs, cats, ballet, and travelling.
Eric Zhu
Translator
Orhan Tuncay
Author
Michael Trott
Author
Arianna Milesi
Illustrator / Artist
Born in Bergamo, Italy in 1982, Arianna graduated in Byzantine Art and Visual Arts in Milan. She often uses paper, wood, fabric, threads, and living organisms in her drawings and interactive installations. She loves light and suspended atmospheres where well established
concepts can be explored freely, even through unconscious associations. Her predilection for the art of drawing did not prevent her
from expanding her interests and developing her skills to include music and literature into her works.
Kristina Stoyanova
Illustrator / Artist
Kristina was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she graduated from the National Art Academy After several years working as a graphic designer in advertising agencies, she is now working exclusively as an illustrator.
Her art is inspired by fairy tales and the stories she creates. She also likes to add a pinch of humour to them.
Sarah Mahfoudh
Author / Editor
Sarah is an author and editor from Oxfordshire, England, with a BA in English Literature and Theatre Studies and lifelong love affair with books. Having lived in fairyland for most of her life, Sarah thinks it’s only right she should share her adventures with the rest of the world. She is the author of Middle Grade fantasy novel, Faces in the Water, and the popular illustrated children’s book, Lilly Mae.
Ruya Aygunes
Author / Illustrator
The Adventures of Nina and the Radio is Ruya Aygunes’s first book. At nine years old, she not only wrote the text but illustrated it too!
Ruya is passionate about radio.
Radio doesn’t rely on visual images to a paint picture for us. Rather, it relies on sound – voices, music, sound effects, and even silence, to tell a story. It is this interweaving of sound, narrative, and imagination that prompts us to construct our own images in our mind. It is this magical confluence which sets the listener free.
This is why radio is Ruya’s passion. For her, radio is hope, joy, and ultimately, the story’s noble saviour.
Virginia Aronson
Author
Virginia Aronson is the Director of Food and Nutrition Resources Foundation. She is the author/coauthor of more than 40 published books. She helped an executive chef at the White House write his bestselling cookbook. She wrote 5 books for the founder of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University School of Public Health. She’s penned memoirs for executives and drug addicts, athletes and diet doctors, cancer survivors and everyday folks with stories to tell. Publishers include Random House, Doubleday, Penguin, Macmillan, and the small presses. Genres include adult nonfiction, educational books for kids, eco-fiction, poetry and short fiction.
Chaaya Prabhat
Illustrator
Chaaya Prabhat is an independent graphic designer and illustrator based in Chennai, India. After getting her M.A. in Graphic Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Chaaya lived and worked in Hong Kong for two years as a graphic designer and illustrator. She has won awards for her portfolio previously from Adobe and Behance. Her work usually involves a combination of illustration, design and hand-lettering which she is passionate about.
Giulia Orsetti
Illustrator
Giulia Orsetti was born in Rome, Italy in 1994. Ever since she was a child, she’s had a passion for drawing that, growing up, has become increasingly important. She attended Istituto Statale d’Arte Roma where she graduated with a specialization in architecture. Afterwards, she enrolled in the Scuola Romana dei Fumetti where she studied the techniques of comics, illustration, painting, and digital colouring She is a freelance illustrator, colourist, and comic artist. Moreover, she loves Japan, tiramisu, writing stories inspired by her dreams, and reading books.
Solen Kipoz
Author
Şölen Kipöz is an associate professor at the Department of Fashion and Textile Design at Izmir University of Economics. She produces publications on fashion studies and conceptual design works on ethical, social and sustainable fashion. Her book entitled Sustainable Fashion (2015) published in Turkish, has been influential in the path of creating an awareness on slow and ethical fashion in Turkey. Her personal exhibition Ahimsa: The other life of clothes (2012),her installations and performances for PortIzmir International Contemporary Art Triennial (2014) and Asteya (2017) exhibition are some of her notable works.
Melissa Salvarani
Illustrator
Melissa is an Italian illustrator who lives in Madrid.
She was 5 years old when they gave her the first package of crayons and from that moment she always designed. She loves the colours, all the possible shades, the collage, the material and irregular surfaces.
She studied art and graphics and graduated in editorial illustration at the IED in Milan. She has always prospered at the intersection of creativity, fashion, and technology.
In 2010 she created the BonbonsLab brand, whose purpose is to recover old furnishing accessories that are made unique with tailor care, giving it new life; recycling is as important as respect for the environment.
Cecilia Pedroza
Author
La Fada Despistada (the fair-minded fairy) is the character created by Cecilia Giménez, a singer and songwriter who was born in Argentina but has resided in Spain since 2001. A Fairy since 2007, La Fada composes and plays songs to help children fall asleep and enjoy pleasant dreams. La Fada and her musicians have performed in Catalonia, Argentina, and the Balearic Islands. La màgia d’en Cotonet is the story of how La Fada Despistada befriends a scared little cloud named Cotonet.
Angelika Claussen
Author
Dr. Angelika Claussen is head of the European IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War). She is among the writers of two IPPNW rapports:
– 30 years living with Chernobyl – 5 years living with Fukushima: Health effects of the nuclear disasters in Chernobyl and Fukushima
– The health effects of uranium weapon
Within the framework of her anti-nuclear studies, she visited Chernobyl and Fukushima. She also visited Turkey and Iran several times within the scope of her peace studies.
Alex Rosen
Author
Dr. Alex Rosen
Vice-President of the German affiliate of IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War). An outspoken critic of nuclear energy, he has published reports on the health effects of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear catastrophes, including comprehensive replies to the WHO reports on Fukushima in 2012 and 2013, ‘Critical Analysis of the UNSCEAR Fukushima Report’ in 2014 and the book ’30 years living with Chernobyl – 5 years living with Fukushima’, which was published in Germany, France, the US and Turkey.In 2012, he created an exhibition called ‘Hibakusha Worldwide’, which deals with the environmental and health effects of the nuclear chain – from uranium mining to civil and military aspects of the nuclear industry and ultimately nuclear waste and radioactive fallout.
Nadia L. King
Author
Australian author, Nadia L King was born in Dublin, Ireland. She is a children’s author and short story writer who believes passionately in the power of stories to make the world a better place.
Her books for children include “Claire Malone Changes the World” (an empowering and inspiring picture book for young children) and “Jenna’s Truth” (a real and raw story of cyberbullying for young adults). Nadia’s short stories have been published in Australia and internationally, and she is the winner of the 2019 Stuart Hadow Short Story Prize.
Nadia is currently undertaking postgraduate studies in English and creative writing. She lives in Western Australia with her family and her ever-expanding collection of books.
Nicole Crabtree
Author
Nicole is an independent consultant and nutritional therapist specializing in nourishing body and soul. Her love for travel and belief that food speaks across cultures inspired her to start Foodmood.crabtree where she records her travel stories, recipes, and connects with people all over the world. The Bunny Chronicles started as the travel section of the blog, and when Nicole’s niece Annabeth came into the world, it became a series of children’s books. Nicole hopes to be a part of Annabeth’s childhood through reading, writing, and sharing the adventures of Bunny and Bearli, the furry avatars of Nicole and her husband Claudio.
Pablo Amor and Cristina Llorente
Authors
Pablo Amor and Cristina Llorente are both architects and directors of Arquitectives. They work in the dissemination of architecture and built environment as essential issues for the development of the cities and their citizens. Their projects and educational programmes are aimed to give children another point of view of the world, a knowledge of the environment through stimulus that foster their creativity, their observation and the development of a critical view.
Ellie McGuire
Editor – Non-Fiction
Alice Mae
Illustrator
Alice, a young lady born in Switzerland, has already since very young picked up the colored pencils to draw. Growing up to study and become a video editor, dreams of illustrating never really dwindled. At the age of 25, a dear friend asked her if she wanted to illustrate a children’s book she was writing for her niece. She agreed with pleasure and they had a terrific time creating, and Bunny Chronicles is her first (not last), published illustration came to be.
Rosa Mascaró
Illustrator / Artist
Rosa Mascaró was born in the city, but now lives in a beloved village called Sineu where everybody knows her as Rous. Rosa loves the small details in everyday things. She’s interested in the delicacy of artisanal techniques of chalcography, screen printing, and engraving. As an illustrator and artist, she combines design projects, editorials and graphic works with the management of her home, Casa Inundate. If you suddenly hear her singing, it’s because she’s creating something!
Gerald Armengol
Illustrator
Samantha McLelland
Illustrator / Artist
Samantha McLelland is an artist and illustrator based in Arlington, Massachusetts. She began her career as an art teacher for elementary and middle school students, but now enjoys working exclusively as a freelance artist.
She primarily creates her illustrations on an iPad, but also enjoys traditional media including watercolor, ceramics, and printmaking.
In addition to making art, Samantha is passionate about children’s literature and enjoys reading to her own children, as well as hiking, running, and cooking.
Alisa Knatko
Illustrator / Artist
Alisa Knatko was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. From her earliest childhood she was passionate about drawing. Having worked in academic art, digital design, advertising and even web design, Alisa found her ideal field in freelance illustration.
Her style is a mixed technique that includes balanced composition, graphic appeal of lines, expressive poses and minimalistic color scheme with random patterns and textures.
Alisa gets her inspiration from the beautiful city of Saint-Petersburg, her two little kids, ballet dancing and just sitting in a local coffee shop, contemplating people passing by.
Lisa Wee
Illustrator / Author
Lisa Wee, a debut author/Illustrator writes quirky, quaint and sassy stories. Her characters are sharp-witted and daring. Many of them have a mind of their own and are not afraid to speak up. In real-life, Lisa is afraid of snakes, cockroaches and looking under her bed at night. (P.S. Monster alert!) When she is not writing, she is having fun illustrating. She is represented by Hilary Harwell of KT Literary for children’s literature and represented by IBD licensing for her work with cards, puzzles, and merchandising. Lisa is best known for her unique, unconventional and vibrant illustrations with a key focus on inclusivity and diversity celebrating children from all walks of life.
Nelli Aghekyan
Illustrator
Nelly is an illustrator and a visual story-teller from Yerevan, Armenia. After completing her Masters in Architecture, she followed her dreams and focused on her drawing skills. After getting her first digital tablet, she’s been drawing non-stop. She believes that being a children’s book illustrator is really fun and challenging at the same time. She thinks that being able to put your vision into a book and be a part of someone’s childhood is really inspiring and motivating.
Nelly is an illustrator who’s always in search of an inspiration.
She finds inspiration in little things, such as long walks, road trips, biking, music, nature, tea and friends.
Maria van Bruggen
Illustrator / Artist
She is an artist, designer and author.Her art is full with colour and reflects her view on life – “life is full with miracles, and should be taken with grain of humor. She is a very creative and a multi-talented person and is always busy with creating if not with pen, pencil, brush or any other media, then you will find her behind her computer and trusted Wacom board. She specializes in both traditional and digital techniques, and loves to mix in between them, to get to a more sharp look. In the rare cases that she is not working, she loves to travel to new places to expand her horizon and can be frequently found in China, Spain, Portugal or any other way the wind blows.
Gabriella Vagnoli
Illustrator
She is half Brazilian and half Italian and is now raising her own multicultural family in the USA. As a kid, her mom read Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story to her and she has been trying to get to Fantastica ever since. She has a Bachelor degree in English and Spanish Literature from the Universita degli Studi di Pisa, and another one in Illustration from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. She is a member of SCBWI and of the AOI. Besides children’s book, she loves Shakespeare, Radiohead and could not live without coffee.
Moyra Irving
Author
Moyra Irving is a writer, storyteller, and Creative Writing teacher who lives in Central England. Her writing career began with a collection of short stories, one of which led to the creation of The Extra Guest end-hunger charity which is partnered with Oxfam and SOS Children’s Villages. She has also published two non-fiction books: ‘Take Me to the Mountain’ and ‘Fiery Love.’ However, it wasn’t until Amelie Trott came into her life that she discovered the unparalleled joy of writing for children. Moyra also loves cats, starry nights, days by the sea and, more than anything, writing stories for the child in us all. This is her debut children’s novel. For more information about Moyra and her books, you can visit her website here: https://amelietrott.com/
Joy Norstrom
Author
Joy Norstrom is a Canadian writer and social worker. She enjoys sharing stories about the human experience, exploring the outdoors with her family, and reading late into the night when she should be asleep. Whether she is advocating for inclusion, attempting to parent teenagers, or popping into the local coffee shop, she can generally be found engaged in conversation. Why? She believes human connection and laughter keep her grounded in a muddled world.
Lena Pokaleva
Illustrator / Artist
Sandi Parsons
Author
Sandi Parsons lives and breathes stories as a reader, writer, and storyteller. Sandi is passionate about engaging readers and diversity in storytelling. She believes every child is entitled to see themselves accurately represented in literature and the arts.
Sandi lives in Western Australia with her favourite husband, some problem puppies and many teetering stacks of books.
Danielle Grandi
Illustrator / Artist
Danielle loves to work in colored pencils on watercolor paper, in part because it adds a rough textural element, and also because it’s too frightening to actually use watercolor paint on watercolor paper. Someday she plans on taking a course in watercolors and hopefully overcoming her fear of them. Until that day, however, she will continue to produce colorful, whimsical creations much to the delight of her family and friends. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and her two sons, who steal her colored pencils.
Ekaterina Stanchenko
Illustrator / Artist
Ekaterina is a children’s books illustrator. She draws both digitally and using traditional media. The most important point for her in work is to reveal the inner world and emotions of a character no matter if it’s a child, a horse or a carrot.
Bernie Leonard
Author
Bernie Leonard lives in West Yorkshire, England with her two amazing children and her soulmate Simon. She is a psychology graduate and a qualified teacher of Mindfulness. After teaching Psychology successfully over two decades, she re-trained as a Mindfulness teacher and now runs her own well-being business, Mindful Me Health & Well-Being Ltd.
Conny Vischer
Author
Conny Vischer was born in Switzerland. In her childhood she loves reading till late at night and in her early teenage years she started to write short stories which ended in a bin after a few years.
After her studies for nurse she restarted writing and started to travel around the United Kingdom and fell in love with this beautiful country, especially Scotland.
She finds ideas for her stories when she’s sitting on the shore of any water or on a walk and letting her thoughts wander to the music. Even while writing, music is a constant companion. It is as if the notes become words whispered to her. Compositions that turn into novels.
Joe Gray
Author
Joe Gray is a field naturalist who lives in the catchment of the River Colne on the island known as Great Britain. He has master’s degrees in Zoology from Cambridge and Forestry from Bangor and is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. Joe is also a Co-founder of The Ecological Citizen (a peer-reviewed, nature-centred journal), Chair of GENIE (the Global Ecocentric Network for Implementing Ecodemocracy), and a Knowledge Advisor on ecological ethics for the United Nations’ Harmony with Nature programme.
Kerry Olitzky
Author
Kerry Olitzky, an ordained rabbi, was named one of the leading fifty rabbis of North America by Newsweek. He is the former longtime executive director of Big Tent Judaism (formerly Jewish Outreach Institute) and served on the faculty and administration of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. He is the author of over 75 books and hundreds of articles in a variety of fields, including spirituality, healing and religious practice. His most recent children’s books are Where’s the Potty on this Ark? and The Littlest Candle: A Hanukkah Story.
Alina Everatt
Illustrator / Artist
Alina is a half British, half German artist with a BA in Illustration from Falmouth University. She mostly works with inks but loves to try out all types of traditional media. Having grown up in the English countryside, her work is greatly inspired by nature and animals. Her greatest passion is her children’s books and bringing her characters and colourful scenes to life for all to enjoy. As well as painting, she enjoys travelling, adventuring by the seaside and baking.
George M. Johnson
Author
George M. Johnson became an activist when he was a Grade Five student in Ontario. Since 1991, he has been the Chair of Global and Community Action at Kamloops United Church, and actually wrote and performed in the play and anti-fashion show described in How Hope Became an Activist. He is an award-winning writer, passionate about telling stories with humour to create empathy and provoke change. In 2019, he received the Y.M.C.A. Peace Medal for his social justice work and writing. He is currently a Professor and Chair of the English and Modern Languages Department at Thompson Rivers University.
Andrew Olivier
Author
Andrew took on various roles over his lifetime – archaeologist, soldier, father, sustainability activist, and many more. He became interested in ecovillages in 2001. In his words, he was blown away by a world where human relationships were at the centre of existence. The particular way of existing in ecovillages where how you show up and contribute is more important than money and what you do for a living inspired him immensely. He also regarded it as one of the solutions to find meaningful work, water, food, energy, and social security. He has been a pioneer in two ecovillages and is currently a board trustee for the Global Ecovillage Network.
Anushka Shenoy
Illustrator
Anushka is an illustrator and designer based in Pune, India with a B.Des in Graphic Design. Bringing life to fun, inclusive and diverse stories through her vibrant illustrations and adorable characters. Growing up, she had a big collection of picture books, and loved reading and re-reading them, which helped shape her passion for working on Children’s book illustrations as a career. Along with art being her passion, she also have a deep love for pastry, and experimenting with baking in her free time.
Sacha Baldwin
Illustrator / Artist
Sacha Baldwin is a creative Illustrator & Designer from Cambridgeshire with professional studio experience in Children’s Crafts, Stationary, and the Seasonal Craft Industry. With a Bachelors in Illustration, and an extensive portfolio of exciting projects, Sacha enjoys working in traditional mediums such as watercolour, collage and monoprint, also making engaging, playful images using digital platforms.
An avid collector of Children’s books, and an amateur photographer, Sacha is inspired by nature, passionately capturing the beautiful skies where she lives. Sacha enjoys collaborating on projects and regularly contributes to a drawing group with fellow creatives.
Inas Younis
Author
Inas Younis was born in Mosul, Iraq and emigrated to the United States as a child in 1982. An independent journalist and commentator, Inas writes on religion and politics for various magazines and websites. She is the co-founder of the first chapter of the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom in Kansas City and served on the board of this national organization, based in New Jersey. She is an alumna of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
In the realm of civic leadership, Inas currently serves on the board of the KCPublic theatre and an active member of People of Faith for Peace.
Leticia Saad
Illustrator / Artist
Nadine Wiese
Illustrator / Artist
Nadine Wiese is an illustrator that graduated with her Honours degree in South Africa. She strongly believes visual storytelling can offer children the opportunity to use their imaginations, engage in critical thinking, to learn, and ask questions about the world around them. Her medium of choice is oil paint and she focuses on illustrating dreamlike, whimsical worlds inhabited by peculiar characters.
Sandra Pomar
Author
Sandra Pomar is an exceptionally busy mom of five spectacular children. Her previous work entails being an Educator in both Canada and the United Kingdom. Sandra’s undying compassion for children has led her to volunteer for The Make a Wish Foundation, POPS-Les Enfants de la Rue, Christmas in July children’s toy donations & the NSPCC. Her passion for writing has become a reality last year when she embarked on her journey as an author for Women’s Perinatal Health, and as an avid lover of children’s books, she hopes for her new stories to be a fresh change for children globally. Sandra aspires to spread the word that “a little respect and compassion go a long way,” hence her motto “Every child should go to bed at night feeling safe, loved, and well cared for.”
Her mission and desire in life is to help children worldwide experience laughter, peace and joy.
Edna Gee
Author
Edna Gee is a South African artist and English teacher currently living and working in Milan. From an early age, she was exposed to her country’s rich fauna and flora through regular trips to the national park and her grandfather’s stories about birds and animals. Her family also had a wide variety of pets including a pig, chickens, cats, birds and a dog. She completed a degree in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria after which she moved to Milan to pursue further studies in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies at the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti. She has been working with Isola Art Center since 2012.
Dhwani Gosalia
Illustrator / Artist
Dhwani Gosalia is an independent Graphic Designer and Illustrator from Mumbai. She does both digital and traditional illustrations. From an early age, she knew what she wanted to do for the rest
of her life. Making the world of plain boring text to interesting and engaging visuals. She has graduated from Rachana Sansad College of Mumbai in Bachelors of Fine Art and Craft (BFA) with a specialization in Illustration. She is commited to make reading exciting for kids visually and encourage them to grow while she discovers and experiments with diferent styles and techniques. Besides children’s books she loves all things colourful, nature and desserts.
Lainy Miller
Author
Born in the UK but now living in Perth, Western Australia, Lorraine has degrees in both zoology and wildlife conservation and works in both of these fields as an animal management consultant, specializing in great apes. She also works with several NGOs in animal welfare, sanctuary animal management and native species conservation. All of Lorraine’s books are centered around her passion for wildlife, conservation and the environment often drawing from her own experiences working with wildlife all over the world.
Teena Raffa-Mulligan
Author
Teena Raffa-Mulligan is a reader, writer and daydream believer who believes there is magic in every day if we choose to find it. She grew up in an English/Italian family in Western Australia, surrounded by natural story tellers whose tales about their lives captured her imagination. Books also opened a window into the world of make believe and her ambition to be a writer was born at an early age.
Altierra Ciogli
Artist / Illustrator
Altierra – alias Alessandra Ciogli – was born in Italy and graduated from the School of Arts of Verona.
She collaborated with public elementary schools through art projects for the development of creativity in children. She worked as a photographer and graphic designer, moving on to her first love, painting.
She has traveled extensively, being interested in nature, farming, and other cultures, discovering meditation in India, and becoming yoga teacher to adults and childrens.
Nola Smith
Author
Nola is an Australian children’s book author, about to debut her YA novel, ‘Enough Is Enough’. She is a retired teacher who’s relishing her new found freedom to focus on writing truthful, authentic stories that her readers can escape into. She wants her novels to give hope and courage to anyone doing it tough because of the difficult circumstances they find themselves in.
Nola is passionate about writing, her family, spending time with friends, travelling the world and championing the underdog.
Chris Hauch
Author
Chris holds graduate degrees in anthropology and clinical social work, and has researched and worked professionally in both fields, mostly around disability issues and homelessness. The greatest part of his working life, however, has thus far been spent in executive positions in government which, of course, is a fertile environment for the study of irony and the absurd. A lifelong student of humans, Chris has concluded that serious investigations of culture, social organization and bureaucracies are best left to aliens. Chris lives with his life partner in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Northwestern Ontario, Canada. They are blessed with wonderful young people in their extended family, each of them brilliant, kind and a cause for optimism, and all of them born on earth.
Simon Leadbeater
Author
After studying in Oxford and London, Simon pursued a conventional career in local government and the third sector during which time he obtained an Open University MBA. A defining moment came when he and his wife bought a 52 acre plantation woodland in Hertfordshire, England. Since 2015 they have lived in temporary accommodation on the edge of their wood trying to secure planning permission for a permanent home. Gradually Simon learned that their wood was not so much a collection of trees as a numinous presence (a Thomas Berry phrase).
Simon’s woodland restoration work has featured in Royal Forestry Society articles and ECOS, the journal of the British Association of Nature Conservationists (BANC), of which he is a trustee. In addition to caring for their woodland Simon divides his time making copious cups of tea for his professor wife, small business consultancy work, and caring for a flock of rescue sheep and chickens.
Federica Ambroso
Author
Federica Ambroso was born in Italy, near Verona, in 1993. She is a PhD in Modern Languages, Literature and Cultures. She has a BSc in Modern Literatures from the University of Bologna and a MSc in European Literatures and Cultures from the Universities of Bologna and Thessaloniki.
Ever since she was a child, she has had a passion for writing and reading. She has won 60 literary contests in Italy and Greece. She published a children’s book in Greek (Ο Μάγειρας των Εποχών και η μυστική συνταγή της Άνοιξης) ̶ winner of the 2019 EPOK Book of the Year Award ̶, a bilingual collection of short stories (Με τις βαλίτσες γεμάτες ήλιο /Con le valigie piene di sole), a children’s book in Italian (La grande avventura di Lily Selvaggia), a collection of poems in Veronese dialect (In serca del sol) and a romance novel in Italian (Il canto del meltemi). Other texts have been published in Greek and Italian literary and cultural magazines as well as in anthologies.
She is also a translator and a singer. She loves travelling and dancing.
Alastair McColl
Author
Alastair McColl is a writer, software developer and sailor, with degrees in English, Philosophy and Computer Science. Alastair lives with his wife, two children and dog in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, on the north eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean. He is currently developing a novel which centres on social life, in a world where most employment is performed through artificially intelligent avatars. He is also creating a graphic novel, as well as children’s books depicting life on the Canadian west coast.
Nicole Mallinson
Illustrator
Carol Edwards
Author
Her cartoons use gorgeous graphics and mind-bending content to go behind the accepted narrative of “being female”, illuminating the key issues facing half of humanity, raising readers’ eyebrows, and skewering convention. Each cartoon, though seemingly small, tells a broader story – readers say they not only challenge and enlighten, they start conversations.
Carol is also a multiple award-winning professor of finance, with over 25 years experience. Her course materials have been highly praised by students and colleagues for their creative approach to delivering complex, difficult concepts in a way which is interesting, concise, accessible, and “awesome!”
Currently, she works in the graduate program at the globally top-ranked Beedie School. She is in a small coterie of women instructing students in advanced finance. In the 1980s, she was one of a very few females in the world to work in the testosterone-charged field of portfolio management. A life-long
feminist, she has considerable experience with the issues she cartoons about.
Martin Hultman
Author
Why don’t we act when we have known the existential danger of climate change for over thirty years? Such are the questions Assoc. Prof. Martin Hultman deal with in his research, praxes and everyday life. Hultman is widely published in energy and climate issues especially notable are the articles ‘The Making of an Environmental Hero: A History of Ecomodern Masculinity, Fuel Cells and Arnold Schwarzenegger’ and ‘A green fatwā? Climate change as a threat to the masculinity of industrial modernity’ then the books Discourses of Global Climate Change, Ecological Masculinities and Men, masculinities and Earth. Contending with the (m)Anthropocene. Hultman leads three research groups analyzing ‘gender and energy’, ‘ecopreneurship in circular economies’ and ‘climate change denial’ at Chalmers University of Technology. As part of his academic work he publish chronicles in a wide range of newspapers, give public lectures on contemporary politics and advice NGO:s as well as governmental agencies.
Peter Barker
Author
Pete grew up in the English countryside with a deep appreciation of nature and realising the harm humans are doing to it, he joined Greenpeace to be a volunteer activist, taking part in campaigns and direct actions for the environment. He has now drawn on these remarkable experiences and those of close colleagues to form an exciting compilation of true stories.
Writing credits include blogs for Greenpeace and Plane Stupid, winner of a Flash 500 competition, published in Aftermath Magazine and a debut novel.
Pete now lives off grid in a straw bale house he designed and built with his wife, and 20 Angora rabbits in rural Wales.
TJ Rowley
Author
TJ Rowley is a Canadian author whose writing explores both the risks and the glimmering potential of emerging technology. A privacy advocate, TJ once made a freedom of information request to a credit agency to see the data profile they had on him. As it turned out, the agency thought he was two people. (They offered to monitor for such mistakes in the future – for a fee). TJ is in fact one person, whose other interests include artificial intelligence, the outdoors, and staving off dystopia. He can be found at www.tjrowley.com
Callum Fowler
Author
Callum Fowler is, first and foremost, a doting father to his beautiful daughter, Hayden Phoebe Fowler, and a loving husband to his wonderful wife and business partner, Briony.
Callum works in sales and is also an award winning photographer and the owner of a property photography and videography business.
Callum is an active supporter of Rockinghorse Children’s Charity – whom raise money for life-saving equipment, specialist projects and enhanced services for sick babies, children and young people. As such, Callum has pledged to donate a percentage of earnt royalties from each book sale, to this wonderful cause.
Lorraine Horsley
Author
Lorraine Horsley is passionate about learning and helping people overcome fear and self-doubt on their education journey.
Lorraine calls Australia home and for most of her life she has worked in the media. For many years she was a presenter and producer with ABC Radio. She’s also spent the last couple of decades teaching and tutoring students at the start of their higher education journeys.
When not teaching or studying, Lorraine spends her time writing. She loves writing stories for children and is currently working on an adult novel. She is a long-time member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and is a committee member of the Children’s Book Council of Australia WA Branch (CBCAWA).
Lorraine believes books can change the world, and the right book at the right time can change your life.
Chobela Ndilila
Author
Chobela Ndilila is a German Zambian bi-racial writer. She was born and raised in Zambia and spent many years studying abroad in Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany. She hold a Master of Science in Architecture. Over the past several years, she has written short stories depicting life in Africa and Africans in the diaspora. These stories have received online publication with The Booker’s Corner (UK), the Ofi Press Magazine (Mexico) and Litro Magazine (UK). She currently live and work as an architect in Lusaka, Zambia.
Sharon Giltrow
Author
Sharon Giltrow grew up in South Australia, the youngest of eight children, surrounded by pet sheep and fields of barley. She now lives in Perth, Western Australia with her husband, two children and a tiny dog. Sharon has taught for all of her career. Previously a teacher of children who are hearing impaired and Deaf-Blind, she now teaches young children with Developmental Language Disorder.
Sharon is also a Blogger for the Children’s Book Academy.