Zhu, Ben: - Ben Zhu is an illustrator who, after working in the video game industry, founded Gallery Nucleus in 2004, an art gallery and bookshop devoted to illustration, animation, and narrative art with locations in Los Angeles and Portland. Born in Beijing, he moved to the US at age 7 and now lives in Southern California with his wife, daughter, and extremely old pet chow chow. Dessert Island is his first picture book.