Ruth Paul is a children's author and illustrator who lives in an off-grid, straw-bale house on a farm just outside Wellington, New Zealand. In 2019 she was awarded the Arts Foundation Mallinson Rendel Laureate Award, and in 2023 she was University of Otago College of Education Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence Fellow. Ruth started writing and illustrating her own picture books in 2004, and has created over 20 titles. The King's Bubbles won the NZ Post Children's Choice picture book award in 2008, Stomp was a finalist in the NZ Post Book Awards 2012, Hatch and Match was shortlisted for Best Picture Book in the NZBACYA 2024, and Bad Dog Flash was selected for the US Kid's Indie Next List in 2014. I Am Jellyfish, a literally luminous story with its glow-in-the-dark cover, won Best Picture Book at the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults in 2018 and Lion Guards the Cake won the same category in 2022. Ruth's books have sold in New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, the UK, China and Korea, with translations in five languages. She lives and works in Makara, where she can now hear kiwi calling regularly.