Susan Yost-Filgate

Susan Yost Filgate is co-creator and author of RIP SQUEAK® and other books for children. She is also a book designer, graphic designer, and art and museum educator. Susan has a bachelor’s degree in art education (with an emphasis in museum studies) from the Pennsylvania State University. For over thirty-five years she has worked closely with husband Leonard Filgate on book projects. Susan is currently the Education Director for the Fresno Art Museum (FAM) in Fresno, California where she creates and manages educational programs for both adults and children. She also curates a special exhibition at FAM focused on children’s book illustrations and illustrators on an annual basis.

Leonard Filgate is best known for the artwork and books he created based on the RIP SQUEAK® characters he and his wife Susan Yost Filgate developed for a successful series of children's books and images. He has also illustrated several other books for children. His artwork is collected around the globe and he has exhibited in many galleries and other venues across the US and Canada, including a solo exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum in 2005/2006. In 2003, he was the featured illustrator for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and the Edward James Olmos Family Festival. His work was included in the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance's Every Picture Tells a Story exhibition, which traveled to the Bremen Museum in Atlanta, the Spertus Museum in Chicago, the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, and others. Filgate was inducted as an artist member of the New York Society of Illustrators in 2006. Originally from San Francisco, he currently lives and works in Fresno, California.