Kelly Canby is an award-winning, internationally published, illustrator and author of over two dozen books for children. Kelly was born in London, England, but has lived in Australia since the age of three, which is probably around the same age she started playing with pencils and crayons, and it was probably only a few years after that that she decided playing with pencils and crayons was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

Kelly’s second picture book The Hole Story  won the prestigious 2018 Western Australian Premier’s Book Award for Writing for Children, while Littlelight  was shortlisted for the same award in 2019. Rodney, The Hole Story  and Littlelight have all been Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable books for Picture book of the year. Kelly is also well known for her illustration work on writer Jaclyn Moriarty’s Kingdoms and Empires series of books. Together they have made four books which have either won or been shortlisted for several awards.

Kelly is on the judging panel for the annual Shaun Tan Illustration Awards and Regional Advisor for The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Australia West.

With a Bachelor of Art in Design from Curtin University, Kelly applies her quirky style to the pages of everything from picture books, to chapter books, to early reader books, to colouring books and beyond!