Nicholas Willmer-Shiles was inspired to write Snowball and Me to honor his aunt’s life work helping women around the world learn sustainable trades. He grew up in San Francisco, where he worked with Dave Eggers at McSweeney’s Publishing, then he studied writing and poetry at the University of Washington. He works as a chef and lives in Queens, New York. Gayle Kabaker is a freelance illustrator who lives in western Massachusetts. She has illustrated for various markets for more than thirty-five years and has been featured on the cover of The New Yorker nine times.