Jeanette Winterson OBE was born in Manchester. Adopted by Pentecostal parents she was raised to be a missionary. This did and didn’t work out.

Discovering early the power of books she left home at 16 to live in a Mini and get on with her education. After graduating from Oxford University she worked for a while in the theatre and published her first novel at 25. Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is based on her own upbringing but using herself as a fictional character.

She scripted the novel into a BAFTA-winning BBC drama. 27 years later she re-visited that material in the bestselling memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? She has written 10 novels for adults, as well as children’s books, non-fiction and screenplays. She writes regularly for the Guardian.

She lives in the Cotswolds in a wood and in Spitalfields, London. She believes that art is for everyone and it is her mission to prove it.

Laura Barrett is a London artist specialising in intricate and decorative silhouette illustrations as well as traditional papercut artwork.

She has worked for clients as varied as the BBC, John Lewis, Ted Baker, Taschen, and Toni and Guy. The Snow Queen was her first title for Orchard Books, followed by The Little Mermaid and The Story of the Nativity.