While We Can't Hug

Eoin McLaughlin was born in Ireland and now lives in Surrey with his partner and their young son. When he's not hugging them, he's writing more stories. The Hug was his debut picture book. He also wrote Secret Agent Elephant, illustrated by Ross Collins and The Case of the Missing Cake, illustrated by Marc Boutavant, and has many more picture books in the pipeline.

Polly Dunbar is one of the most popular illustrators working in the UK today. Her bestselling book, Penguin, won numerous awards including the BookTrust Early Years Award, the Nestlé Silver Children's Book Prize and the Red House Children's Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal. She was also chosen as one of BookTrust's Ten Best illustrators. Polly has illustrated books by David Almond, Michael Morpurgo and her mother, Joyce Dunbar. She is also the illustrator of The Hug and While We Can't Hug, written by Eoin McLaughlin and published by Faber. She created Tilly and Friends, now an animated series on CBeebies, and many of her other stories have been adapted for the stage. She is also co-founder of Long Nose Puppets, an award-winning theatre company. She lives in the Waveney Valley, Suffolk, with her family. @pollydunbar