Deborah Kelly was raised on a farm in New Zealand, where her family grew green beans and garlic. She studied Marine Biology at James Cook University in Queensland and has since lived and worked in Japan and Scotland. Her passion for art, film, books and writing began in her early childhood. Kelly wrote her first series of picture books (which she still has) when she was seven! Her first published book, The Bounding Ball (with Georgia Perry) was released by Random House in 2013.