Jeri Kroll was born and grew up in New York City, but she spent ten summers in the Catskill Mountains at camp pretending she wasn’t a city person. She has travelled widely in Europe and began her academic career in the UK and the US before moving to Australia in 1978.
Jeri’s hectic life is divided between her job, writing, family and horses. She has a son, two stepchildren, five horses, assorted dogs and cats but not much spare time - a fact her husband Jeff Chilton often points out to her. In her second teenagerhood, she has been involved in the Fleurieu Horse and Pony Club for seventeen years. Although she still feels incredibly nervous, she continues to compete – her favourite pursuit is one-day eventing.
Jeri wrote her first poems when she was eight, encouraged by her sister, Judith Kroll, who is also a writer and teacher. Jeri began her career by publishing books of poems and stories for adults. When she had her own child, she began to appreciate the variety and quality of children’s books since she read to him every day. Eventually she decided to try her hand at a picture book herself and that began another chapter in her life – as a writer for young people.
