Julie, Emma, and Friends

EMMA WALTON HAMILTON is an author, editor, arts educator and arts and literacy advocate. She has co-authored sixteen children's books with her mother, Julie Andrews, including the DUMPY THE DUMP TRUCK series (illustrated by her father, Tony Walton), SIMEON'S GIFT, DRAGON: HOUND OF HONOR, THE GREAT AMERICAN MOUSICAL, and THANKS TO YOU - Wisdom from Mother and Child (#1 New York Times Bestseller). She is the Editorial Director for The Julie Andrews Collection, a publishing program dedicated to quality books for young readers that nurture the imagination and celebrate a sense of wonder. Recently, Emma and her mother completed a stage adaptation of SIMEON'S GIFT, which went on symphonic tour in 2008 to venues including the Hollywood Bowl and the Atlanta Symphony

One of the founders of Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York, Emma was Director of Education and Programming for Young Audiences there until 2008. She currently serves as the Co-Director of Stony Brook Southampton's annual Playwriting Conference, as well as the Executive Director of YAWP (Young American Writers Project), an inter-disciplinary writing program for middle and high school students on Long Island, both of which are sponsored by Stony Brook Southampton's MFA Program in Writing and Literature.

Her latest book, RAISING BOOKWORMS: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment, premiered as a #1 best-seller on Amazon.com in the literacy category. This fall, a new poetry anthology, JULIE ANDREWS' COLLECTION OF POEMS, SONGS AND LULLABIES, illustrated by James McMullen and edited by Emma and her mother, will be released by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Emma lives in Sag Harbor, NY, with her husband, producer/actor Steve Hamilton and their two children, Sam and Hope.

Visit Emma at www.emmawaltonhamilton.com.

JULIE ANDREWS EDWARDS is one of the most recognized and beloved figures in the entertainment industry. Her legendary career encompasses the Broadway and London stages, blockbuster Hollywood films, award-winning television shows, multiple album releases and concert tours and the world of children's publishing.

Andrews' dedication to children has been steadfast throughout her career. She began writing books for young readers over thirty-five years ago and her first two novels - MANDY and THE LAST OF THE REALLY GREAT WHANGDOODLES - remain in print and in high demand. Her other books include the LITTLE BO series, and an additional 15 picture books, novels and Early Readers co-authored with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, including the best-selling DUMPY THE DUMP TRUCK series, SIMEON'S GIFT, DRAGON: HOUND OF HONOR, THE GREAT AMERICAN MOUSICAL and THANKS TO YOU: Wisdom from Mother and Child.

Together the best-selling mother-daughter team head-up "The Julie Andrews Collection" publishing program, formerly with HarperCollins Publishers and now with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, dedicated to publishing "quality children's books which nurture the imagination and cultivate a sense of wonder." Their next project is JULIE ANDREWS' COLLECTION OF POEMS, SONGS AND LULLABIES, to be published in Fall, 2009.

Andrews considerable charitable work has been consistent throughout her career, and in 2000 the title of Dame Julie Andrews was bestowed upon her by Queen Elizabeth II for lifetime achievements in the arts and humanities. Her many other honors include being named "One of the 100 Greatest Britons" by the British Broadcasting Corporation, serving as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations' UNIFEM program, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, ambassadorships for literacy programs as the American Library Association's National Library Week and Ready. Sit. Read!, and a prestigious Kennedy Center honor in the fall of 2001. She is married to film director Blake Edwards and they have five children, seven grandchildren,and two great-grandchildren.

Learn more about the Julie Andrews Collection titles at www.julieandrewscollection.com.

CHRISTINE DAVENIER has illustrated many picture books including The First Thing My Mama Told Me by Susan Marie Swanson, for which she received a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year Award. She lives in Paris, France.

JAMES MCMULLAN is an internationally acclaimed illustrator and poster designer whose work has appeared in a variety of books for adults and young readers.

James was a member of Push Pin Studios and he has provided journalistic illustrations for many magazines, including New York Magazine. He has been internationally recognized for his seventy posters as the principal artist for Lincoln Center Theater, and in 1990, he completed a sixty-foot mural, Rehearsal Chairs, on the 65th Street entry hall of the Vivian Beaumont and Mitzi Newhouse Theaters at Lincoln Center.

James has received the Society of Illustrator's prestigious Hamilton King Award, the Herschel Levit award for lifetime achievement from Pratt Institute, and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book award in 2002 for the picture book I STINK!. He has been teaching since 1969 at the School of Visual Arts, where he initiated the High-Focus Drawing Program and wrote HIGH-FOCUS DRAWING, published in 1995.

His other published works include REVEALING ILLUSTRATIONS, THE THEATER POSTERS OF JAMES MCMULLAN, and the following picture books: NUTCRACKER NOEL, NOEL THE FIRST,HEY, PIPSQUEAK!, THE EARTH IS GOOD, PAPA’S SONG, I STINK!, I’M MIGHTY!, and I’M DIRTY. His most recent book is JULIE ANDREWS’ COLLECTION OF POEMS, SONGS AND LULLABIES, edited by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in Fall 2009.

James lives with his wife, children’s author Kate McMullan, in Sag Harbor, New York.