Joan Rankin was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and attended the Michaelis Art School, Cape Town. She has illustrated over thirty books for children,many of which she has written herself and which have been published internationally. She received the HAUM Daan Retief prize for children's book illustration in 1986 and the Katrina Harris Award for Children's Book Illustration in 1991. Recently she illustrated the bestselling A FROG IN THE BOG by Karma Wilson.

She lives with her husband and family in Johannesburg.