Susan Gal

Susan Gal began her illustration career as a poster and calendar artist in Los Angeles. Her love of drawing energetic and lively characters earned her an internship with Walt Disney Feature Animation and she became a member of the original animation team at the Disney MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. Although she loved the Disney years in Florida, Susan returned to her native California to follow her true passion of writing and illustrating children’s picture books.

In recent years Susan’s work has been recognized with a Sydney Taylor Award, a National Jewish Book Award, the Russell Freedman Non-Fiction Award for a Better World, and several publishing, library, and editors’ choice lists. Some of her titles include The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs, New Shoes for Leo, Joyful Song: A Naming Story, and Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tale. Susan’s work has also been celebrated in the New York Times, American Illustration, Creative Quarterly, 3×3, and the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show.

Susan lives in Berkeley, California.