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Coming from Shanghai, China in 1984, where she used to be a school science teacher, author Ji-li Jiang studied in Hawaii then worked as a corporate Operations Analyst and Budgeting Director for several years. In 1992, she co-founded East West Exchange, Inc, a company created to promote and facilitate cultural and business exchanges between China and the western countries.

Ji-li’s first book, Red Scarf Girl fulfilled a long cherished wish to tell her story about what happened to her, her family, her neighborhood, and to her school during the 1960’s Cultural Revolution in China. Red Scarf Girl won an ALA 1998 Best Book for Young Adults award, ALA Notable Book award, was cited by Publishers Weekly 1997 as one of the Best Nonfiction Books for Children, as well as a Parenting magazine Magic Awards—1997 Most Wonderful Children’s Books. To reach so many children with her own story has been very meaningful to Ms. Jiang.

Today, Ji-li lives in the San Francisco area. Besides writing, she devotes her time to various cultural exchange programs; organizing groups to study alternative medicine in China; bringing Chinese art troupes to perform in the States; sending students to summer camps in China to understand the Chinese culture, etc.

She says, "If there is one goal I’d like to achieve in my life it is to bridge the gap between China and the western countries. I strongly believe that a better understanding around the world is the bases of world peace."

Hui Hui Su-Kennedy has been enchanted by the story of The Monkey King and the lessons she learned since she first heard it growing up in Taiwan. The second of five sisters, she was encouraged to pursue her artistic talents in school by her first grade teacher. Growing up, she enjoyed drawing Chinese opera characters and designing their costumes. She moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico as a teenager. Ms. Su-Kennedy studied at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and State University of New York at Stony Brook. She has worked for a number of years as a designer and illustrator in New York City and has exhibited her paintings in Long Island, New York. Her work has appeared in the New York Times. This is her first illustrated children’s story. Hui Hui is excited to work on a story so important to her native culture, which has allowed her to combine her period research with her own creative version of The Monkey King. Ms. Su-Kennedy currently resides in Brooklyn, N.Y. with her husband, David.