Brenda Jones was born and raised on Prince Edward Island. Jones lived in Montreal where she worked as a commercial designer, a film animator, and an illustrator. She has since returned to PEI and is a fulltime illustrator. Her humorous and lighthearted drawings have accompanied several narratives written by PEI authors.
Dale McNevin is originally from Prince Edward Island. She started illustrating professionally in 1990 and works on both children's and adult's books. McNevin is also a painter, and exhibits her work around the island.
David Weale grew up in Greenmount, PEI after he and his family moved there when he was a young boy. In his youth, Weale was fascinated by PEI’s oral traditions and folklore, and he made a career out of his interest by participating in the musical and storytelling traditions of the island. Weale started teaching at the University of Prince Edward Island in 1975, and was a professor of provincial and Canadian history. He retired from teaching in 2006, but he continues to tell stories at festivals and community gatherings around the island.
Deirdre Kessler is a poet and a children’s book author. Kessler also writes non-fiction for adults and children. She has taught creative writing, composition, and children’s literature at the University of Prince Edward Island. Kessler’s has travelled most of Canada and the United States, as well as Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, and Italy. Kessler's work has been influenced by her time on PEI as well as the island of Tasmania, where she was the writer in residence in 2007. Kessler has also worked as a writer and broadcaster for CBC Radio and Television. She reported on the arts and also worked as the host of the program, “The Story Show” for children. Kessler has facilitated writing workshops and is a strong advocate for writing, reading, and the arts.
Gerry O'Brien was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. After high school, O'Brien traveled to Africa, and later returned to his native province to obtain a degree from York University. Shortly after university he became a teacher, and after teaching for a few years in Ontario, O'Brien and his wife moved to Argyle Shore, Prince Edward Island. In recent years he and his wife have moved back to Ontario to be near family. O'Brien works as a substitute teacher and spends lots of time writing. O'Brien began his writing career out of his love of reading funny stories to his students. He started out by writing a one-act play, and after asking his students for suggestions, Bubba Begonia was born.
Troy Little was born on Prince Edward Island. In 1994, Little graduated from Sheridan College with a degree in Interpretive Illustration. Little then moved to Ottawa to pursue employment opportunities in the animation industry before returning to PEI in 2003. Before moving back to the island, he had decided to pursue a career in comics, which was first supported by a grant from the Xeric Foundation and then a PEI Council of the Arts grant. His first comic, Chiaroscuro, was self-published through Meanwhile Studios (2001-03) and then re-published by IDW publishing, including previously unpublished work drawn in 2004-05 (hardcover 2007, paperback 2008). Little then began work on his next project, Angora Napkin. Angora Napkin was published in hardcover in 2009, and in the fall of 2010 the animated show debuted on Teletoon.
