DENA SEIFERLING is an illustrator and needle-felt artist who graduated with a BFA and Visual Communications Degree from the Alberta College of Art and Design where she later worked as an instructor. She is the illustrator of King Mouse, which was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award, and its companion book Bear Wants to Sing, as well as Alice and Gert: An Ant and Grasshopper Story. The Language of Flowers marks her authorial debut and was inspired by the love of flower gardening that has connected her maternal family through the generations. In her garden in Calgary, Alberta, Dena grows peonies for her mother, forget-me-nots for her grandmother and daffodils for her children.