Barbara Walsh

Barbara Walsh is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has worked for newspapers and magazines in Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, and Ireland. Sammy in the Sky was inspired by her family's first dog, Sam, a loyal and loving hound who died in 2003. Barbara Walsh lives in Maine with her husband, daughters, and coonhound Jack, a rescue dog from Tennessee.

Jamie Wyeth is an internationally known painter, illustrator, and dog lover. When he was a boy he endlessly sketched his family dog and has continued to portray animals in his work throughout his life. He has illustrated two previous picture books, The Stray and Cabbages and Kings. Jamie Wyeth, son of painter Andrew Wyeth and grandson of illustrator N. C. Wyeth, splits his time between Maine and Pennsylvania.