Early Bird Stories Books

Gina Bellisario is an ordinary grown-up who can do many extraordinary things. She can make things disappear, such as a cheeseburger or a grass stain. She can create a masterpiece out of glitter glue and shoelaces. She can even thwart a messy room with her super-cleaning power! Gina lives in Park Ridge, Illinois, not too far from Winkopolis, with her husband and their super kids.

Heather Pindar has more than twenty years’ experience as a teacher; she currently works in a school in London. She finds that the children’s brilliant imaginations and love of stories are her biggest inspiration for writing picture books.

Clare Helen Welsh is a children’s book author who lives in Devon, in the UK, with her husband and two children. In 2013 Clare won the The Margaret Carey Scholarship for Picture book Writers and in 2014 she received the silver medal at The Greenhouse Funny Prize for her debut picture book Aerodynamics of Biscuits. She teaches primary school and has over ten year’s experience in Early Years and Key Stage One education.

Cale Atkinson is an illustrator/writer/animator currently residing in Kelowna Canada. He claims to love tea more than sleep, which makes sense when you realize how many projects and clients he’s dealing with on a regular basis. With creative storytelling and engaging illustrations, Cale’s work has earned awards like Buzzfeed 17 Most Beautiful Books 2015, Ontario Library Association Best Bets Top 10 2015, and CBC Children’s Choice Award Finalist 2016. Cale recently spent a month in Portugal, and you can see his incredible Lisbon-inspired art on his Twitter account where he regularly updates his followers as to his coming adventures and works.

Julia Seal illustrated thousands of Christmas cards while working at a greeting card company, but her time is now devoted to children’s book illustration.

Susan Batori lives in Budapest, Hungary, with her soul mate, Robert, and with her cat, Kamilla. She studied graphic design at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest. She worked as an art director at an advertising agency; then she noticed that drawing hilarious characters was much more fun. Since 2013, Susan has been working as a freelance children’s book illustrator. Humor is the one thing in her studio that she could not live without.

Giusi Capizzi was born in Rome but raised in Sicily. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania and has completed many illustration courses for children’s books. She began drawing stories for her son and enjoyed it so much that she hasn’t stopped since! Giusi has worked internationally, illustrating for education books, handbooks, and magazines. All of her art is digital, but she also uses her graphic design skills to layout books and catalogs. In her spare time, Giusi loves to cook. Sometimes she teaches tourists Sicilian cuisine . . . Obviously, her cookbooks are filled with illustrations!

Lindsay has made her mark on the illustration industry after encouragement from both parents to pursue a creative career. Whilst studying Graphic Design and Illustration at Columbus College of Art and Design, she earned an award for her advertising campaign for the sloth sanctuary (she loves sloths!) of Costa Rica. She gained local, regional and national recognition with the American Advertising Awards, ‘The Addy’s’. She describes her work as whimsical with a soft sophisticated touch, drawing inspiration from classic Disney artist Mary Blair. Vintage posters, folk and fairy tales and things that are a bit quirky also inspire her. She currently resides in Northeast Ohio with her husband, two dogs Toby & Violet, two bunnies Sam & Pepper and our newest addition - our daughter Nora James.