Pen Pals: Independent Reading 16

Katie Dale had her first poem 'The Fate of The School Hamster' published in The Cadbury's Book of Children's Poetry, aged 8 and hasn't stopped writing since. On graduating, she went travelling through South-East Asia - only to discover whilst in a Vietnam internet cafe that she was a winner of the SCBWI 2008 Undiscovered Voices competition.

Letizia Rizzo was born in 1986 and grew up in Lecce, where she currently resides. She graduated from the comics school Lupiae Comix in 2011, and since then has taken part in various specialized courses in visual arts and digital coloring techniques. Letizia can be seen drawing everywhere (that's why she always brings a small sketchbook), stalking passers-by from the shadows in order to draw them. Although she's a digital artist, Letizia's works always start with traditional drawing. She likes to draw animals, especially dogs and parrots, princes and princesses, and she's very fond of vintage dresses and bright colors. She also happens to live with five cats and two dogs and, whenever she's not at her drawing table, she plays the harp. A hopeless tea-addict, she loves art and anything with even the slightest nuance of vintage and period dramas.