About Jan Brett
Jan Brett (born December 1, 1949) is an American illustrator and author of children's picture books. Her titles include The Mitten, The Hat, and Gingerbread Baby as well as retelling traditional stories such as the Gingerbread Man and Goldilocks. == Life == Brett was born and still lives in Massachusetts. She studied at the Colby Junior College (now Colby-Sawyer College) before transferring to School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It takes her an hour to hand-paint an inch in gouache for her intricate artwork. On August 18, 1980 Jan Brett married bassist Joseph Hearne, a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was the second marriage for both. The couple travel extensively, either with the orchestra or for Brett’s book research to Africa, the Arctic, China, Costa Rica, Japan, Martinique and Scandinavia. They embark on yearly nationwide bus tours for her books. The couple live outside Boston and summer in an Adirondack-style log home on their 17-acres in the Berkshires.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.