Jess McGeachin is an author and illustrator living in Dja Dja Wurrung Country (Malmsbury, Central Victoria). His debut picture book, Fly, was published in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia and Queensland Literary Awards. His first two non-fiction books, Deep and Kind, were published in 2022. Deep was the winner of the 2023 CBCA Eve Pownall Award. Kind and The Tree at Number 43 were the co-winners of the 2023 Environment Awards for Children's Literature, and South with the Seabirds was a 2025 CBCA Honour Book. Jess draws quite literally from a day job at a museum, where he's lucky enough to help design exhibitions and occasionally get lost in the basement.