Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham are best friends who have been publishing books for young readers for two decades. They have created three bestselling series together: the graphic novel Friends series, the early chapter book Princess in Black series (with Dean Hale), and the picture book Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn.
Shannon lives in Utah with her husband, four kids, and two cats where she writes award-winning novels like The Goose Girl, Book of a Thousand Days, Dangerous, and the Newbery Honor winner Princess Academy, and pens other books with her husband Dean, including Diana, Princess of the Amazons (illustrated by Victoria Ying), Rapunzel’s Revenge (illustrated by Nathan Hale), and two novels about Marvel’s unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
LeUyen lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two sons, a cat, and an orange gecko. She is the author/illustrator of the books Big Sister, Little Sister, A Piece of Cake, The Itchy Book, and Outside, Inside. She is also the illustrator of over 100 books for kids, including Vampirina Ballerina by Anne Marie Pace, Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio, and The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman. Her illustrations have won numerous awards, including the prestigious Caldecott Honor for Bear Came Along with Richard Morris.
Shannon and LeUyen plan to keep making books together for many years to come and to stay friends forever.
Shannon Hale is the Newbery Honor–winning and
New York Times bestselling author of the Princess Academy series, The Books of Bayern
, Book of a Thousand Days,
Dangerous, and the graphic novels
Rapunzel's Revengeand
Calamity Jack, as well as the Ever After High and Princess in Black series, and the upcoming
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl for Marvel. She also wrote three novels for adults, including
Austenland, now a major motion picture starring Keri Russell. She and her husband, the author Dean Hale, have four children and live near Salt Lake City, Utah.
LeUyen Pham has illustrated more than one hundred books for children, including the Caldecott Honor book
Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris and the bestselling Princess in Black series by Shannon and Dean Hale. She is the co-creator, along with Shannon Hale, of the bestselling graphic memoirs
Real Friends, Best Friends, and
Friends Forever. Her own books include
The Bear Who Wasn't There and
Big Sister, Little Sister. A graduate of the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, LeUyen lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.