Alan Durant is a prolific author of picture books and novels for children of all ages, including Dear Mermaid (9781844280643), Dear Tooth Fairy (9780744588583) and Dear Father Christmas (9780744583403); his football stories were featured in the BBC series English Express, winner of a Children's BAFTA Award.

Alan is also a National Reading Campaign Reading Champion and a frequent visitor to schools, libraries and festivals around the UK and abroad. He lives in Brighton, Sussex.

Penny Dolan is a children's writer and storyteller living in North Yorkshire. She is a popular speaker with both infant and junior children, and has visited many School Book Weeks and literacy events across the UK, with her enjoyable 'Author Talks' and lively story-telling sessions.

She has also spoken and performed in libraries, bookshops, museums, art galleries, historic sites and outdoor locations, and has appeared on the children's programme of several literature festivals. She has a wide interest in children's books and has been Chair of the Federation of Children's Book Groups. Penny has a wide experience of schools. She was a primary advisory teacher for English and Drama but has been a freelance language arts worker for several years.

She has also taught on residential writing courses for children, tutored both storytelling and writing courses for adults, and spoken at conferences. Penny has a degree in Education, specialising in Language and Literacy and an Advanced Diploma in Educational Drama. As well as working on her writing, Penny enjoys drawing, painting, reading, chatting and daydreaming.

Her favourite colour is yellow. Her favourite food is strawberries-and-cream, and she is probably the world's slowest swimmer. She has three untidy desks, two grown-up children and one rather bad cat.

Anna Wilson lives in Penzance, Cornwall, with her family, cats, chickens, ducks and a tortoise called Hercules. She has written numerous wonderful picture books and fiction titles for Pan Macmillan, HarperCollins, Stripes and Nosy Crow. A keen wild swimmer, Anna's passion for animals and the natural world shines through in all her work.

Holly Webb is the author of Dog Magic, Cat Magic, and Lost in the Snow.

She has always loved animals and owns two very spoiled cats.

They haven't said a word to her yet, but she's always listening, just in case! She lives in England.

Vivian French is a highly acclaimed children's author who has written more than 250 books during the course of her career, including Caterpillar, Butterfly, The Tales from the Five Kingdoms series and Yucky Worms.

Her recent work includes the critically acclaimed picture book The Most Wonderful Thing in the World and junior fiction The Adventures of Alfie Onion, The Cherry Pie Princess and The Witches' Midnight Feast.

Vivian teaches on the illustration course at Edinburgh School of Art, and helped to found the mentoring scheme Picture Hooks for aspiring young illustrators. She lives in Edinburgh