Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Tom de Freston met in 2009, when Kiran was a student and Tom was artist-in-residence at Cambridge University. They have been a couple and collaborators ever since, with Leila and the Blue Fox as the follow-up to their Barnes & Noble Children's Prize shortlisted Julia and the Shark. Kiran is the award-winning, bestselling author of stories including The Girl of Ink & Stars, The Way Past Winter, and The Deathless Girls, and Tom is an acclaimed illustrator, having worked as an artist for many years. They live in Oxford, UK, with their two cats and their daughter.