Extraordinary Elephants

Born in Melbourne in 1956, Tim Flannery is a writer, scientist and explorer. He has written many award-winning books including The Future Eaters, Throwim Way Leg and Country. In 2005 his book The Weather Makers became an international bestseller. He is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, the National Geographic Society's Australasian representative and a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. In January 2007 Flannery was named Australian of the Year.

Emma Flannery is a scientist and co-author of many of the bestselling Explore Your World books with her father Tim Flannery. With postgraduate experience in geology, chemistry and palaeontology, Emma’s research and writing has been published in scientific journals, children’s books and a number of museum-based adult education tours. She has worked for and with universities, government agencies and museums. Emma is also is the co-founder of Museophilliac, an independent curatorial service that has produced programs for the City of Sydney and the Australian Museum.

Katie Melrose was born and raised along the Southern Californian coast where her love for art and reading was cultivated at a young age by her parents. After graduating with a BFA in illustration from California State University of Fullerton, she quickly delved into illustrating books. Katie is extremely bookish, getting through more than 100 books a year (shout out to audio books!). You'll mostly find her with a brush, but when she's without, she'll be in the kitchen, cooking up a storm and pretending she's a chef – perhaps her second greatest passion in life after illustration.