Nonny Hogrogian has long been a favorite children's book illustrator. She has twice been awarded the Caldecott medal for "the most distinguished picture book of the year" in 1966 for Always Room for One More and again in 1972 for One Fine Day, which she wrote as well as illustrated. Among the many outstanding books she has to her credit are Poems Here and Now (edited by David Kherdian), Handmade Secret Hiding Places, Rooster Brother, Once There Was and Was Not (retold by Virginia Tashjian), and About Wise Men and Simpletons: Twelve Tales from Grimm (translated by Elizabeth Shub).
As in The Contest, she has found inspiration for a number of her books in her Armenian heritage. She was born in New York City and is a graduate of Hunter College, where she majored in art. She is married to the poet David Kherdian (whose books she often illustrates) and they live in upstate New York.
