Boats for Papa

Jessixa Bagley is children’s book author-illustrator with a background in fine art and comics. She has had work featured in publications such as New American Paintings, The Chicago Reader, Nickelodeon Magazine, and Highlights Magazine. Her first picture book, Boats for Papa, received numerous awards and accolades including the 2016 SCBWI Golden Kite Award for picture book text and a 2016 Washington State Book Award. Her picture book Laundry Day received a 2018 Ezra Jack Keats Honor Award for writing. Many of her picture books are also Junior Library Guild Selections. In her work, she’s drawn to animals and emotional themes often inspired by her own experiences. Jessixa also teaches and speaks about writing and illustration. She often illustrates for other writers and artistically collaborates with her husband, Aaron Bagley. Jessixa lives in Seattle with her husband and son.

Aaron Bagley is an illustrator and sometimes author from Seattle, WA. His work has been featured in Illustoria Magazine, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Seattle’s The Stranger, The Seattle Weekly (R.I.P.), and so many more, collect them all, yadda yadda yadda. The children’s book Vincent Comes Home was published in 2018 (Roaring Brook Press) which was a collaboration with his wife, Jessixa. He illustrated the graphic novel Duel (written by Jessixa Bagley) published in November 2023.