Jessica Walton is a picture book author, teacher, parent, daughter of a trans parent, and proud queer, disabled woman. They wrote Introducing Teddy: A Gentle Story About Gender and Friendship to help explain gender identity in a simple, positive way to their kids. Introducing Teddy began as a Kickstarter project, but has now been published in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia by Bloomsbury. It has also been translated into nine other languages. Jess lives in Pakenham, Victoria, with their wife, kids and cat.Aśka is an energetic visual storyteller, illustrator and science communicator who is a passionate advocate for visual literacy. She has illustrated ten published books and is a regular contributor to The School Magazine and other children’s publications. An active member of the local literature sector, she is part of many creative organisations, and for four years was the Illustrator Co-ordinator for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators – Australia West. She is also a recipient of several government Arts grants, prizes, and the May Gibbs Fellowship. Aśka believes visual literacy is one of the most important skills in today’s world and she loves projects which explore new ways of communicating and presenting ideas with images.She has made comics, dabbled in animation, ran an animated film festival, held a solo art-science exhibition, and has been featured in an ABC arts documentary. She delivers engaging talks and workshops about her work, as well as developing her own visual story-telling ideas.In addition to an Arts degree, Aśka holds a Physics degree and travels across Western Australia delivering In addition to an Arts degree, Aśka holds a Physics degree and has travelled across Western Australia delivering science programs to school students on behalf of Scitech (the WA science centre).