When Ian Lendler was younger, he really enjoyed acting in the theater. He was, however, extremely terrible at it. So he became a writer of children's books (An Undone Fairy Tale and Saturday) and nonfiction. He took a day job de-worming animals at the Stratford-on-Avon Zoo.
Zack Giallongo is a professional cartoonist, cheese enthusiast, and amateur banjo-ist. His first solo graphic novel, Broxo, is about teenage barbarians and was published in 2012. It hit #4 on the New York Times Bestsellers list.