Kaz Windness loves to make her readers laugh. Kaz is an award-winning, genre-crossing illustrator and author of heart-warming books for young readers. Proudly autistic, Kaz specializes in character-driven books celebrating inclusivity, grit, and kindness. Her many books include Swim, Jim! (2023 Gold Medal Colorado Book Awards), Worm and Caterpillar are Friends (a JLG Gold Standard Book), and Bitsy Bat, School Star (recipient of three starred trade reviews). Kaz is a professor of illustration and curriculum author at her alma mater, the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD, 2013-present) and founder of The Cuddlefish Academy where she inspires students to tell stories with pictures. Kaz loves squishy-faced dogs, waffles, thrifting, and all things Halloween. Her favorite art mediums are pen and ink, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, collage, and pencil, but mostly Photoshop. There’s not much she won’t turn into an art supply. Kaz lives in Colorado with her English teacher husband, two children, and a bunny-obsessed Boston Terrier named Remy.
