Susan Yost-Filgate Author

Author of the RIP SQUEAK® stories, Susan Yost-Filgate was born and raised in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. She long had a love of art and literature and spent her childhood creating short stories, poetry, drawing, painting, and making things from fabric, paper, and found materials.

During and after high school, Susan traveled around the northeastern US, made many trips to eastern Canada and traveled throughout Europe. She developed a deep love of travel, literature, history and anthropology, but always maintained her greatest interest in the visual arts.

In 1976, Susan received a bachelor's degree in art education from the Pennsylvania State University. She had a special concentration in museum education. Her main creative effort during those years was in soft sculpture; however, she also studied painting under the late Harold Altman and others.

Soon after completing college, Susan traveled to San Francisco in search of a new adventure. While there, she met her future husband, Leonard Filgate and found work with Determined Productions, Inc. (Determined had 80% of the rights for Charles Schulz' PEANUTS® characters as well as other licensed properties.) Susan gained a lot of insight into the world of publishing, licensing, and products for children from this experience.

After the birth of their daughter in 1984, Susan began focusing on creating stories and products for children. She had long felt that her husband's incredible artistic talent could be directed to illustration for children. She has been focused on the RIP SQUEAK® project since 1999.

Before 1998, Susan had worked as an art teacher, a museum docent, a graphic designer, and a paralegal. She had been very involved in her daughter's education, serving on parent/teacher boards for three of four schools. She had also started both visual and performing arts programs in her daughter's elementary school.

Getting along despite differences is a value Susan feels strongly about including in the RIP SQUEAK® stories. At the same time, she likes to create stories that have a sense of adventure - adventure that, if seen through the eyes of young children, could be found in your own backyard and with your best friends once you add a healthy dose of imagination and chance encounters.

Susan works closely with Leonard on this project, writing and editing the stories, offering her ideas and suggestions for the book illustrations, and designing the layout of the books.

Leonard and Susan were married in San Francisco in 1979. Their daughter Jessica was born in 1984 and has been their biggest inspiration. The Filgates live and work in a wonderful old house in California's Central Valley. Fortunately for them, their adult daughter has chosen to live nearby.

READ ABOUT LEONARD FILGATE