Robin O'Brien
Robin O’Brien was born and raised in London, where he still lives today. He spent the majority of his childhood either in a library, the local park or complaining to his parents that he didn’t have his own room or enough pets. He eventually graduated from Kingston University in 1999 with a BA (Hons) in Illustration.
His hobbies and interests include art, travel (favourite places are China, Ecuador, The Galapagos Islands and Granada in Southern Spain), horse-riding and he loves all animals (even those that smell!).His first book ‘Prince Edward’s Feast’ grew out of his love of delicious food, playful language and silliness in general.
Leah-Ellen Heming
Once upon a time little Leah was born in Belgium where she was nurtured and fed beer, chocolate, chips and mayonnaise by some small squirrels. This energising diet gave her the will to discover far away lands such as Cornwall where she studiously drew pictures for small people at Falmouth College of Arts. Leah soon discovered that through picture books she was suddenly able to focus her ideas and allow herself to be as silly and creative as possible! She then moved to a studio in Bristol where she sits for many hours, nicely asking the mice not to nibble the corners of her work, and trying to think of stories to illustrate and ways to keep warm in the winter days. Leah uses a mix of gouache, pastel and colour pencil or more recently a mix of acrylic and colour pencils.
As well as playing with paints and pencils, Leah likes reading satirical books about everyday life and society. Sometimes she gets one of her many typewriters (a collection that got out of hand) out of the cupboard and writes amusing rhymes and stories with her friends for whimsical entertainment. Sometimes these stories get turned into one-off books or comic books for the mice to enjoy at bedtime. Leah can’t think of anything else she would rather do with her time other than eat cake.
