Clay Carmichael is an award-winning author and illustrator. Clay was born and grew up in Chapel Hill, NC. She attended Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, and graduated summa cum laude in creative writing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her picture books, including Bear at the Beach, and her young adult novels have been translated into many languages. Her young adult novel, Wild Things, was nameda 2010 ALA Notable Children's Book and a 2010 Bank Street College Book of the Year/Starred. She lives, writes, and illustrates in Carrboro, NC, with her sculptor-husband, Mike Roig, and an ever-growing number of animals. Each year, she and her husband open their art studios to the public the first two weekends in November.