GUUS KUIJER was born in Amsterdam in 1942, and is one of the most popular writers for both children and adults in the Netherlands, where he is perhaps best known for his Madelief and Polleke series of books. Polleke was made into a successful movie. He has won numerous major awards and his works have been translated into several languages, with several of his books being made in successful plays, The Book of Everything being staged in Australia for several years now, and was also staged in New York. In 2012 Kuijer won the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for his writing for children, and in 2014 he was shortlisted for the prestigious AKO Literature Prize for adult fiction. Kuijer currently resides in Zuidschermer, a small, rural town in the Netherlands. LAURA WATKINSON has translated books by authors including Cees Nooteboom and Tonke Dragt. Her translations have won the ALA's Mildred L. Batchelder award for children's books in translation three times. She lives in a tall, thin house on a canal in Amsterdam.