Books like The Wonder Engine

Ursula Vernon (born May 28, 1977) is an American freelance writer, artist and illustrator. She is best known for her Hugo Award-winning graphic novel Digger (2003–2011) and for the children's books series Hamster Princess and Dragonbreath. Vernon is the creator of The Biting Pear of Salamanca, a digital work of art which became an internet meme in the form of the LOL WUT pear. Under the name T. Kingfisher, she is also the author of several books for older audiences. She also writes short fiction under both names. She has won awards, including the Hugo Award, Nebula Award and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, for her work in various mediums.

Ursula Vernon grew up in Oregon and Arizona and studied anthropology at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota where she first took art classes. She first became known for her webcomics and as a freelance artist, particularly for her works containing anthropomorphic animals. She then moved into writing and illustrating a number of children's books, her first being published in 2008, and then books for adults under the pseudonym T. Kingfisher. She has published short fiction under both names, and has won a number of awards for them including the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. Vernon regularly attends conventions to exhibit and sell her work and has been a guest of honor at Midwest FurFest 2004 and 2009, and the Artist Guest of Honor at Further Confusion 2010. Vernon was the Author Guest of Honor for Mythcon 45 and a Guest of Honor at Eurofurence 20, both in August 2014. In 2017, she was the Author Guest of Honor at Arisia '17. Vernon podcasts with her husband, Kevin Sonney.