Arika Okrent is a linguist and author of In the Land of Invented Languages. She worked in a brain research lab on her way to a Psycholinguistics PhD from the University of Chicago, and now writes about language for various publications including Mental Floss, The Week, Smithsonian Magazine, Popular Science, Slate, and Aeon. nSean ONeill is an illustrator and writer living in Chicago. He is the creator of the Rocket Robinson series of graphic novels for young readers. n nArika and Sean are also known for their series of live-drawing whiteboard videos on language and other topics, produced by mentalfloss.com.n