Jan Ormerod was born in Australia on September 23, 1946. She attended art school and studied drawing, painting and sculpture. After completing her degree, she become an Associate of the Western Australian Institute of Technology and Design in Art Education, taught in secondary schools on enrichment programs for talented students, and lectured in a teacher's college and in art schools. Her first picture book, Sunshine, was published in 1981, won the Mother Goose Award, and was voted Australian Picture Book of the Year. She wrote and illustrated more than 50 books in her lifetime including Miss Mouse's Day, Lizzie Nonsense, Rhymes around the Day, Father Christmas and the Donkey, Ben Goes… Swimming, Emily Dances, A Twist in the Tail, and Ponko and the South Pole. She also illustrated Sky Dancer by Jack Bushnell. She died after a long illness on January 23, 2013 at the age of 67.