Catherine Rayner 

Catherine Rayner grew up in the countryside of West Yorkshire. She has drawn animals ever since she could hold a pencil and her first pictures usually featured their family dog. She continues to finds huge inspiration in her pets and often uses them as models, frequently asking Ena to pose so that she can study her posture and movement. She tran...

Catherine Rayner grew up in the countryside of West Yorkshire. She has drawn animals ever since she could hold a pencil and her first pictures usually featured their family dog. She continues to finds huge inspiration in her pets and often uses them as models, frequently asking Ena to pose so that she can study her posture and movement. She translates these sketches of Ena into characters such as dragons, hares, moose and bears! But it was creatures of a wilder kind that inspired her first picture book, Augustus and His Smile. Catherine spent hours and hours watching and sketching tigers (in freezing temperatures) at Edinburgh Zoo. The success of her first book has led to Catherine writing an additional 15 books to date and illustrated stories for many other well-known authors.