Zhou Rui is a native of Nanjing, where he worked on ferries and barges before beginning to write fiction and poetry and, starting in his late 20s, children’s literature. In 1989 he took a job as an editor at the Shanghai People’s Art Publishing House. His more than 400 published works include The Python on the Stage, and the series Chinese Rabbit, German Hay, Giant Rat, Tiny Cat, The Kungfu-ists, The Stories of Calligraphy and more. He’s the recipient of more than 100 prizes: a three-time winner of the National Children’s Literature Excellence Award and a two-time winner of the Song Qingling Children’s Literature Award, in addition to other prizes including the New Era Prize for Excellence in Youth Literature, Taiwan’s Yang Huan Children’s Literature Award, France’s Annecy Educational Animation Prize, and many others.