Patricia MacCarthy is an award-winning illustrator. Her recent picture book Moon Forest, published by Frances Lincoln, was nominated for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal for 2014. She has collaborated extensively with the late, highly acclaimed New Zealand author, Margaret Mahy and was awarded the New York Times `Best Illustrated Book of the Year' for 17 Kings and 42 Elephants. Patricia lives and works by the sea in rolling Sussex downland near Brighton, with her husband John and her two sons, Laurie and James.