Antoinette Brooks (Author) Antoinette Brooks is a writer, poet and illustrator. Born and raised in London to parents of the Windrush generation, she fell in love with the power of stories whilst listening to the memories of their childhood in rural Jamaica.She is the winner of the Jericho Prize for Best Picture Book Script, winning a publishing contract with Scholastic, and the Golden Egg Award for Picture Book Writing. She was also named first runner-up in Hachette's Mo Siewcharran Prize and was Highly Commended in the Fab Prize. Antoinette has run poetry workshops for children at the Southbank Centre, and was selected by the Children's Laureate to be part of the Diversifying Children's Literature Programme, run in conjunction with the poetry organisation, Apples and Snakes. Five of her poems were later selected by the Children's Laureate Joseph Coehlo as part of his Spin! poetry anthology. She creatively uses her experiences of ethnicity and disability to craft stories for children that are celebratory, uplifting and colourful.Melleny Taylor (Illustrator) Melleny is a children's book illustrator and lives in the South West of England.She studied at Wolverhampton University, gaining a First Class Honours Degree in Illustration, and has 18 years experience as a secondary school Art Teacher.She enjoys using different media in her own work, which includes printmaking, painting, collage and working digitally.In 2022 Black and British: An Illustrated History (Macmillan Children's Books) was the overall winner of the Children's Choice award at the SLA Information Book Awards. Melleny is passionate about community and leads a Christian Creative Network. In her free time she loves going for walks, especially by the sea, with her husband and two children.
