Joyce Wan

Joyce Wan designed her first greeting card when she was six years old for a city-wide greeting card design contest sponsored by the Art Institute of Boston. The design won first place and was subsequently sold through a major department store chain. Twenty years later that design would inspire her to launch her design studio Wanart. Products featuring her designs are now sold worldwide. She also teaches courses on greeting card design and art licensing at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is inspired by Japanese pop culture, Scandinavian design, modern architecture, and everyday things that make her smile. She says, "In my perfect world everything would be cute, round, and chubby." She is the author and illustrator of "Greetings from Kiwi and Pear", "You Are My Cupcake", "We Belong Together", "Frog & Friends", "Owl & Friends", "Hug You Kiss You Love You", "My Lucky Little Dragon", Are You My Mommy?" and she illustrated "Sleepyheads" by Sandra J. Howatt. 

"We Belong Together" was featured in the Society of Illustrators 2011 Original Art Show, an exhibit which showcases the year’s best children’s books. 

"The Whale in My Swimming Pool" is a Spring 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection.

The book "Greetings from Kiwi and Pear" led to the release of two mobile apps: Kiwi and Pear's Balloon Adventure and Kiwi and Pear's World Adventure for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. 

She is originally from Boston, Massachusetts and currently lives in New York City. Through all her work, she hopes to inspire people to embrace the spirit of childhood and follow their dreams. 


Learn more about Joyce on her website. 

Frans Vischer 2015

Frans Vischer grew up in Holland, playing soccer and drawing on rainy afternoons. At the age of eleven his family immigrated to America, settling in Cupertino, Northern California. Being the shy, new kid in school that spoke little English, Frans relied on his drawings to communicate.

Enthralled by the abundance of cartoons on American television, Frans marveled at Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Tom and Jerry, and “The Wonderful World Of Disney,” and was quickly inspired to become an animator. 

At a local junior college event Frans met legendary Warner Bros. cartoon director Chuck Jones, and sent him one of his animated films. With a recommendation from Mr. Jones, Frans was accepted at California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts) in Valencia, Southern California, where he studied animation under Disney veterans. Upon graduation in 1981 Frans went to work at the The Walt Disney Company.  Since then he’s worked on such films as The Princess and The Frog and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? at Disney, Cats Don't Dance at Warner Bros., and The Road To El Dorado at DreamWorks.

Observing and sketching his kids and telling bedtime stories produced a wealth of ideas for new projects. Frans wrote and illustrated his first book, Jimmy Dabble, published in 2001 by Dutton. And inspired by the antics of their enormous and lovable cat, Frans created Fuddles, about a pampered, fat cat seeking an adventure, published by Simon & Schuster in 2011. And for the 2013 holidays, A Very Fuddles Christmas.

Find out more about Frans on his website.

Frans is represented by Kathleen Ortiz of New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc.

Chris Britt

Chris Britt was named Cartoonist of the Year in '94 by the National Press Foundation in Washington, D.C. In '09, he was honored with the Sigma Delta Chi award, one of journalism’s most prestigious awards. Chris has also won press club awards in Texas, California, Washington State and Illinois. In 2000, he was the only U.S. cartoonist to be recognized by the United Nations for his cartoons dealing with the Mid East Peace issue.

Britt has been the staff editorial cartoonist for a multitude of newspapers, covered major political conventions, elections and events for over 20 years and his cartoons are syndicated by Creators News Service, then distributed to over 200 newspaper clients nationally and internationally.
Chris’ cartoons have been published in Newsweek, Newsweek Japan, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today. They have also been aired on CNN’s Inside Politics, MSNBC, Fox News and ABC’s Good Morning America.

His debut author/illustrated picture book, THE MOST PERFECT SNOWMAN is publishing with HarperCollins.

Wendell Minor 2015

"Wendell Minor draws upon his lifelong affinity for environmental issues to create illustrations for children's books, which he finds especially satisfying, as they allow him to combine his love of the outdoors with his independent pursuits – including painting the landscape from life, in the tradition of classic American painters such as Homer, Hopper, and Wyeth. His wish is to inspire children to go out into the fields and woods and mountains to see wildlife in its natural habitat, and to give the children a positive perspective about the beauty that abounds in the world. Happily, the poets and authors whose words he illustrates share his deep respect for the natural world." Read more about Wendell and his wife, Florence.

See his previous Celebridots:

2013

2014

Earth Day 2015

Cassie Beasley

Cassie Beasley is the author of Circus Mirandus, a middle grade fantasy novel filled with powerful magic and family mysteries. She lives in rural Georgia with her best friend, who also happens to be her younger sister, Kate Beasley, who also writes children’s books.

She's written a little bit of everything over the past few years, including short stories and poems for adults, but she loves reading and writing fiction for young people most of all. She earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Circus Mirandus has been published by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House. In the UK, it’s available from Chicken House.

Learn more about Cassie on her website.

Josh Funk

Josh Funk lives in New England with his wife and children. He is the author of LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST (Sterling 2015), and the forthcoming picture books DEAR DRAGON (Viking/Penguin 2016), PIRASAURS! (Scholastic 2017), and JACK! [and the beanstalk] (Two Lions 2017). Find more information about his books at JoshFunkBooks.com or on twitter at @joshfunkbooks.

Josh is the co-coordinator of the 2016 and 2017 New England Regional SCBWI Conference and is a board member of The Writers' Loft in Sherborn, MA.

Josh is terrible at writing bios, so please help fill in the blanks. Josh enjoys _______ during ________ and has always loved __________. He has played ____________ since age __ and his biggest fear in life is being eaten by a __________.