Anne Soroke

Children’s Author-Illustrator

Nana and Friends series

About the author:

Anne Soroke, a Canadian author-illustrator, draws inspiration for her books from her time living in Australia and New Zealand. She now resides in Canada with her family.

As a young child, Anne was greatly influenced by two author-illustrators: May Gibbs and Johnny Gruelle. Gibbs’ thoroughly interesting adventures and imaginative drawings of gumnut babies, as they interacted with the other creatures of the Australian outback, and Gruelle’s delightfully sweet stories and illustrations of Raggedy Ann and Andy, two dolls that lived a secret life in a nursery, were the impetus for Anne’s own creative journey. For Anne, the works of these two authors epitomizes beauty, magic, adventure, and innocence.

Years later, Anne realized her dream of being a children’s author-illustrator when she created the Nana and Friends series. She continues to write more stories accompanied by bright detailed illustrations of the many comings and goings of Nana the koala and her friends, the toys.

Anne is a mother of two wonderful daughters and two cats. When not working, she spends time walking and taking photos of huckleberries and moss in the pine-scented forests near her house, and during the summer she often sails to small islands in the Strait of Georgia with her husband.