Susan Nees grew up on a farm in the Midwest, where, soon after learning to ride a bike, she learned to drive a tractor. One of her favorite places to visit was the little county public library. Some of her favorite books were from the Betsy-Tacy and Tib series written by Maud Hart Lovelace and illustrated by Lois Lenski.

After graduating with honors from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Susan taught illustration and worked as a freelance illustrator in Minneapolis, MN. Her clients included Harcourt Brace, Houghton and Mifflin, Macmillan, Scholastic, University of Georgia Press and Carus Publishing. When Carus Publishing celebrated twenty-five years of Cricket Magazine, her work was shown at the Art Institute of Chicago along with the work of Eric Carle, Tomie dePaola, Peter Sis, and Lisbeth Zwerger.

Susan's artwork can be found in folios and fine books at the Low Library of Columbia University and in special collections at Princeton, Washington University, the University of Iowa, as well as other collections. She illustrated Life of the Body, written by Jane Smiley and published by Coffee House Press, which went on to receive the American Institute of Graphic Arts Award (AIGA). She is the recipient of an Independent Artist Grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts for Rural Route 2, a limited edition suite of print illustrations documenting the family farm.

Today, Susan works on author-illustrated books, which neatly bring together her love of art and children's books. She lives with her husband, two children, Jodo the Dog, and a small flock of chickens in Watkinsville, Georgia.

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