The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden

Heather Smith is the author of several picture books, including the award-winning The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden. Her middle-grade novel Ebb and Flow was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award, and her YA novel The Agony of Bun O'Keefe won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award, the OLA Forest of Reading White Pine Award and was shortlisted for the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award and the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People. Most recently, Heather authored the middle-grade novel The Boy, the Cloud and the Very Tall Tale. Originally from Newfoundland, Heather now lives in Waterloo, Ontario, with her family.

Rachel Wada's work is defined by heavy texture, bold color and intricate details that capture the nuances of people, places and ideas, real and surreal. Rachel's identity as Japanese-Cantonese, an immigrant and a woman informs her artistic practice. She loves to put her own spin on traditional techniques, motifs and symbolism inspired by her cultural background. This duality of old and new is also apparent in her use of both traditional and digital mediums, and she draws inspiration from a variety of sources, from Japanese woodblock prints, Chinese pottery and ceramics, food packaging design to traditional folk art. Rachel lives in Vancouver.