Abiola Bello is a Nigerian-British, prize-winning children’s and YA author who was born and raised in London. She is an advocate for diversity in books for young people. Her debut Emily Knight I Am … Awakened was nominated for the CILIP’s Carnegie Award, won London’s BIG Read 2019, and was a finalist for the People’s Book Prize Best Children’s Book. She also has a story in The Very Merry Murder Club: a collection of mysteries from thirteen diverse children’s writers. Abiola won The London Book Fair Trailblazer Awards 2018 and is the founder of The Lil’ Author School, co-founder of The Author School, Hashtag Press, Hashtag BLAK, The Diverse Book Awards, That Playlist Book Box and ink! Abiola has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Female First Magazine, The Mirror, BBC1XTRA to name a few. Love in Winter Wonderland is her debut YA.

Annabelle Sami is a writer and performer. She grew up next to the sea on the south coast of the UK and then moved to London, where she now lives.

She studied English Literature and Drama and undertook an MA in English Literature at Queen Mary University.

When she isn't writing she enjoys playing saxophone in a band with her friends, performing live art and swimming in the sea.

Benjamin Dean is a London-based celebrity reporter. His biggest achievement to date is breaking the news that Rihanna can't wink (she blinks, in case you were wondering).

Benjamin can be found on Twitter as @notagainben tweeting about Rihanna and LGBTQ+ culture to his 10,000+ followers. Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow is his debut book and he's currently working on his second, publishing in 2022.

Maisie Chan is a British-born Chinese author. She has written early reader books for Hachette and a collection of fairy tales, myths and legends in Stories From Around the World for Scholastic, as well as many stories for The Big Think: a well-being curriculum based around stories for primary school children. She also started the group Bubble Tea Writers to support and encourage new British East Asian writers in the UK. Originally from Birmingham, Maisie now lives with her family in Glasgow.

Nizrana Farook was born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and the beautiful landscapes of her home country find their way into the stories she writes. She has a master's degree in writing for young people, and lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and two daughters.

Patrice Lawrence was born in Brighton and brought up in an Italian-Trinidadian household in Mid Sussex.

She found her way to east London in the '90s and lives there with a partner, a teenager and a cat called Stormageddon. She has been writing for as long as she has been reading.

She loves crime fiction, sci-fi and trying to grow things. Her ideal mixtape includes drum 'n' bass, Bruce Springsteen and Studio Ghibli soundtracks.

Music can't help creeping into her books. Orangeboy was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award.

Roopa Farooki is a writer and junior doctor for the NHS. She is the author of six literary novels that have been translated into over a dozen languages, and a series of middle-grade children's books for Oxford University Press.

Her writing has been awarded the John C. Laurence Prize and an Arts Council Award, and listed three times for the Women's Prize. She is also a lecturer on the Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford, and the Ambassador for family for Relate, the counselling charity.

In 2020 she was awarded the Junior Doctor Leadership Prize from her NHS Trust, for her work during the Covid pandemic.

Serena Patel is the author of the Anisha Accidental Detective series, winner of the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards.

Sharna Jackson is an award-winning children's author and curator. She is the author of four books for children, including the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2020 winner High-Rise Mystery (2019) and Mic Drop (2020). Dr Zoé Whitley is the Director of London's Chisenhale Gallery and co-curator of 'Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power' (2017).

Born in South Africa, Dominique Valente now lives in the Sussex countryside with her husband and their English Bulldog, Fudge. She writes bestselling women's fiction under her pseudonym, Lily Graham, and is a former journalist for publications like Business Day and Woman & Home.

Harry Woodgate is a children's books illustrator, who has worked across editorial, publishing and advertising sectors to create visuals that are packed with fun, bright colours and quirky characters. They were shortlisted for the V&A Illustration Awards in 2019. Harry's picture books include, Grandad's Camper and Lonesome Boy and Little Dog.