Before coming to Canada in 1958, Gina Gadsby Calleja studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London and at Reading University Department of fine Arts. She became a Canadian citizen in 1968. She began as an illustrator of children's books but was always interested in writing and decided to combine the two. She mostly concentrates on her own work, but occasionally illustrates for others. As a child, she invented stories with pictures, and now she is just doing the same thing as an adult. Her daughter and two grandsons are a great audience, and the boys appear in many of her illustrations (recognizable to their friends). Occasionally their cat appears too. Gina has written and illustrated Bloor and Christie and Wizzo and the Cookie Babies for Napoleon, and illustrated Great Food for Happy Kids.