Rod Campbell was born on May 4, 1945 in Scotland. He was brought up in Zimbabwe and returned to Britain where he completed a doctorate in organic chemistry. In 1980 he became involved in children's publishing where he began designing innovative books with interactive elements and repetitive phrases.In 1987 he founded Campbell Blackie Books in partnership with his publisher Blackie. Campbell's most famous work is Dear Zoo, first published in 1982. Enormously popular among the under 5s in Britain, it has been translated into several languages and published in a number of formats. In 2014 his title, Dear Zoo: From the Zoo, made The New York Times Best Seller List.