Gaille Walton is a first-time book author. She is an educator, working with students ranging from five years to adults. As Gaille’s family and friends live within Australia and overseas, she travels extensively. She has worked in the Northern Territory, New South Wales, Victoria, Vietnam and also had a short stint in a Bronx school in New York City. Gaille has written several plays and poems for use within her classrooms. She has also contributed articles in the area of health/wellness and fauna conservation. In 2015, Gaille completed a Children’s Literature Fellowship at Stonybrook University, New York. This opportunity enabled a honing of her writing skills and the determination to publish books for children. Gaille has a passion for literature, music and environmental awareness, which she shares with her children and grandchildren. Her aim is to write with humour about animals, with the underlying essence being the importance of friendship and care for our planet. Whilst teaching in Sydney, author Gaille was inspired when observing life for a Powerful Owl in the bushland behind the school she worked at. Gaille has been involved with bird groups ever since she was small and has continued to be heavily involved with educational activities during her school Bird Weeks each year. In 2020, more than ever, because of the natural disasters that have beset Australia, Gaille feels an urgency to use her books as a springboard for young children to consider, discuss and learn about these topics.Graeme is a visual artist and illustrator. He was born in Narrabri, Northwest NSW. He has loved drawing since childhood. He works from home and has a busy practice, completing commissions for portraiture and illustrations for children’s books. Graeme’s subjects and styles are broad, from fierce dragons to happy humans, one-eyed chooks to piano-crunching pachyderms, rendered in graphite, ink, charcoal, acrylic or pixels. He has twice been a finalist for portraiture in the Mortimer Prize for Realism (2011-2012) and received the Grand Champion award for his work Egret on Tap in the Gunnedah Art Exhibition 2013. From 2013 he began illustrating children’s books and has produced numerous pictures for authors, filling twelve books by early 2017. Graeme completes portraits in between illustrations. He is currently working on the sketches for an exhibition of his fantasy works, including dragons, phoenixes, demons and other beasties.
