Dennis Nolan was born in San Francisco, California, in 1945. His father was an operatic tenor and his early childhood memories of backstage makeup, costumes, and performances helped to create a lifelong interest in dramatic and colorful storytelling. After attending Bay Area schools, he earned a BA degree in Art History and an MA degree in painting from the San Hose State University. A variety of jobs followed, including paintings for galleries, illustrating biology textbooks, and animating films. He also taught illustration at San Hose State University and the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

Mr. Nolan’s first book was published in 1976. Several of the books that he has written and illustrated have been singled out for recognition. Among them are The Castle Builder, winner of the Prix de Zephir in France; and Dinosaur Dream, a season’s choice in both Newsweek and the New Yorker, and an SCBWI Honor book. He has collaborated with his wife, author and illustrator Lauren Mills, on the illustrations for her story Fairy Wings, winner of the SCBWI Golden Kite Award, as well as its sequel Fia and the Imp, and The Dog Prince, an original fairy tale by Lauren. He is also the illustrator of numerous other books, including The Sword in the Stone, two of Bruce Coville’s retelling of Shakespeare’s plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet, Wings, and Dove Isabeau, both by Jane Yolen, and St. Francis of Assisi, by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.