Phillip Simon was fascinated by many things as a child, but one of his main interests was Japan. This fascination remained with him until his adult years, causing him to move to Japan for two years as an Assistant Language Teacher teaching English in high schools. His experiences while there and his appreciation for Japan and his home country of T&T have led him to create the Petra series, which currently includes two books; Petra and the Poui and Petra and the Panman’s Daughter. The latter was long-listed for the 2022 Bocas Children’s Book Prize.