The Secret Janara

Writer and artist John Bemelmans Marciano is the grandson of Ludwig Bemelmans. John has continued his grandfather’s legacy of the Madeline books with Madeline and the Old House in Paris, Madeline at the White House, andMadeline and the Cats of Rome. He is the author of Bemelmans: The Life and Art of Madeline’s Creator, and of The Nine Lives of Alexander Baddenfield and The Witches of Benevento books, which were illustrated by Sophie Blackall. John lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Andromache, and their daughter, Galatea.

Sophie Blackall has illustrated more than twenty books for children, including Big Red Lollipop, which was a New York Times Top Ten Picture Book, and the ongoing Ivy and Bean series, which has over a million copies in print. She won her first Randolph Caldecott Medal for illustrating Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear and her second for Hello Lighthouse. If You Come to Earth, her most recently published children’s book, has received wide acclaim. Her first book for adults was Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found. She has created highly coveted limited edition holiday cards for the Museum of Modern Art, and her editorial illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Time, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Town & Country, and other publications.