Robin grew up with eight brothers and sisters and a mother who wrote short stories. She left school at fifteen, and for the next twenty-five years worked at all sorts of jobs including nursing, raising her four children, librarianship, painting and craft.
Since then, Robin has become a well-known writer of picture books, poems, short stories and novels for children, including Boris and Borsch and the Penny Pollard series. Her books have won many awards, and have been published around the world. She received the 1991 Dromkeen Medal for Services to Children's Literature.
Ann James is Co-director of Books Illustrated, a Melbourne gallery for children's book illustration. She has illustrated many successful books, including Robin Klein's Penny Pollard series, and her own picture books, One Day and Finding Jack.
