Author & Illustrator Duo: Jory John and Alyssa Machle John

Jory John and Alyssa Machle John are the husband-and-wife team behind I Miss You, Barack Obama.

With an array of shared interests that include cats, cheese, and Steve Carell vehicles, collaboration comes pretty naturally to these two. When they first met, they bonded over their mutual love of comics, including Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes. It was this passion that later inspired them to create their webcomic, Animals Got Problems, which airs three times a week and is featured as a regular illustrated column on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Fast forward a few years later—they both realized just how much they missed Barack Obama—like, pretty much every second of every minute of every hour of every day. With that, a postcard book was born.

Jory’s history with Obama-inspired literature can be traced back to 2008, when he conceptualized and edited, Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids’ Letters to President Obama, which was featured on This American Life. A New York Times bestselling author and two-time E.B. White Read-Aloud Honor recipient, Jory’s work includes the award-winning, bestselling picture books, Penguin Problems and The Bad Seed, and the national bestseller All My Friends Are Dead, among many other books for both children and adults. In addition, Jory has written for the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Believer, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and BuzzFeed.

Alyssa is a licensed landscape architect, illustrator, and writer. Over the past decade, she has contributed to multiple public and private landscape projects while pursuing her passion for creating art using both traditional and digital media. Her original watercolor cards and prints can be found through her Etsy shop, Little Weirdo Press.

During their free time, Jory and Alyssa can usually be found drinking inordinate amounts of coffee, frolicking in the park, or attempting to make the next viral YouTube video featuring their two cats.