Leigh Ballance was born and raised in rural Hyde County, close to the real Gum Swamp. As a child, fearing he would not do well in math, Ballance began dreaming of numbers. Instead of being something to fear, they became his friends.   In his dreams, each number, from 0 through 9, had its own personality and gender. Now with the numbers being his friends, math came much more easily to him.

Ballance became so good with numbers that he began a career in the banking profession. His early struggle with mastering arithmetic inspired his children’s book, The Secret of Gum Swamp.

Today, Ballance lives with his wife, Patsy, in Raleigh, North Carolina where he is at work writing more stories about his friendly, brave, adventurous numbers.

Collaborating with storyteller Leigh Ballance, Marion Clark Weathers’ hand and imagination created the “number people” and the world in which they live in Gum Swamp. An accomplished artist and noted illustrator, she also paints the North Carolina landscape in oil and watercolors. A native of Orangeburg, South Carolina, she received her BFA from the University of Georgia in 1970 and is now doing post-graduate study at Barton College. A Signature member of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina, Weathers also serves as registrar for the Arts Center in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

Weathers has been included in juried exhibitions across North Carolina from New Bern to Boone, and has been an exhibiting artist at numerous Arts Councils and galleries. She now happily paints in her own gallery, Goose Creek Studio, on Country Club Road beside Goose Creek Lake in Rocky Mount.