Cheryl Hellner

Cheryl Hellner is a poet and storyteller, a teacher and retreat leader who embodies a lifelong passion for creativity, art, and the natural world. After graduate studies in Early Childhood Special Education, she worked with inner city children in her local Head Start program evaluating special needs children and designing approaches that would help them to learn and flourish. Her passion for children’s picture book stories grew from this work. Following her decade with Head Start, she worked in writing, editing, and small press publishing creating innovative editions of a new journal of faith and the arts, Potter’s House Press, along with her good friend and co-editor, Gayle Boss. Cheryl lives with her husband, Jim, in a small solar cottage at Dayspring, a 206-acre retreat center of open fields, woods, streams, and ponds outside Washington, D.C. Together they work with children and adults designing programs, outings, and retreats that deepen our connection with the natural world.

Merce Tous lives and works in Barcelona, her hometown. She loves being close to the sea and enjoying the cultural activities that this cosmopolitan city offers. However, whenever possible, she escapes to nature, her main source of inspiration. Since childhood, she has enjoyed drawing, painting, and creating illustrated images and books. Her grandfather was her first drawing teacher—the person who sparked her passion for art, instilled a sense of curiosity, and passed on values of dedication and an appreciation for well-crafted work.