Jeremy Tankard is the author and illustrator of some very silly picture books including Grumpy Bird, Boo Hoo Bird, Hungry Bird and Me Hungry. The funny thing is, he never planned to be a writer. However, after many years of drawing pictures he decided that maybe adding some words to his art would be a nice thing to try. To his surprise he loved writing and it seemed to be a natural fit for his drawings. The rest is history and he can’t imagine a life without stories.

Jeremy was born in Cape Town, South Africa but left at the age of four for a new life in the United States. After living in South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee, his family moved to Calgary, Alberta where he spent most of his school years, finally ending up at the Alberta College of Art and Design. After a few years in Toronto he now resides, with his family, in Vancouver. He continues to illustrate books for other authors: Piggy Bunny by Rachel Vail; It’s a Tiger! by David Larochelle; Here Comes Destructorsaurus! by Aaron Reynolds; and Melvis and Elvis by iconic Canadian writer Dennis Lee. He is also working hard on a number of new projects of his own – including more books in the Grumpy Bird series.

When not making books he enjoys hiking, kung fu, apple pie and french fries (but not together – that would be weird).