Marcel Aymé was a French novelist, children's writer, humour writer, screenwriter and theatre playwright. His writings include The Man Who Walked Through Walls (Le Passe-Muraille), one of his most famous short stories for which there is a monument in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris.

Maurice Sendak’s books have sold over 50 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages. He received the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are and is the creator of such classics as In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, Higglety Pigglety Pop!, and Nutshell Library. In 1970 he received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal for Illustration, in 1983 he received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the American Library Association, and in 1996 he received a National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America. In 2003 Sendak received the first Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, an annual international prize for children’s literature established by the Swedish government.