Holly Surplice

Holly Surplice lives in the beautiful Outer Hebrides with her three children, Painter and Pencil the dogs, Penny Crayon the cat and a collection of other furry and feathered family. Island life inspires both her written and illustrative work, but many of her stories come from observing the animals around her and remembering her farming childhood. Holly studied illustration at Edinburgh College of Art, with her first picture book acquired by Walker Books during her degree show. Her books are full of heart, with meaningful writing and expressive illustration.

Asli Jensen

Asli is a writer, born and raised in West London. She is proud of her cultural heritage, being of Somali and Danish descent. Her writing is an amalgamation of untold stories and unheard voices, including her own. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck University and previously had her work published in Stylist Magazine.

Marisa Linton

Marisa inhabits two writing worlds. In one she’s a professor of history, a historical consultant for television and the author of several history books on the French Revolution. In her other world she’s writing fantasy for young adults that draws on her love for ancient Celtic Britain and folklore and her belief in magic, ghost stories and the supernatural. Born in Barnes, in south-west London, into an Italian/English family, she has lived for many years in Brighton where she has raised her three children.

Bruna De Luca

Bruna De Luca grew up in a very Italian household in the Scottish Borders and reluctantly describes herself as a deep-fried pizza. This dual heritage is woven into every aspect of her life – from her studies at the University of Edinburgh, where she completed a dissertation on Italian fairy tales, to the years she spent in Italy teaching students to speak English with a Scottish twang. Bruna’s experiences as the child of immigrants deeply shape her writing.

Truly Johnston

Truly Johnston was born in London and is mixed heritage, Sri Lankan and English. Having spent her childhood singing to herself and making up stories, she continues to spend her adult life doing the same. Truly has a degree in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and has worked in the charity and public sectors. Truly lives in South East London with her husband, young daughter and three lovely chickens.

Gary Panton

Gary is an author, editor and doodler whose work has appeared in numerous books, magazines and websites. As well as his debut novel The Notwitches, Gary has written and illustrated two children’s art books and also written for hit children’s brands including The Beano, Hey Duggee and Bluey.

Megan Freeman

A former teacher, Megan Freeman loves all things magic and mythology. She juggles writing with her day job, working for a children’s mental health charity, promoting well-being through surf therapy. Megan hails from the far west of Cornwall, and when she’s not working or writing, loves tramping around the moorland and swimming or surfing in the sea.

Anna February

Being a STEM editor by day and a fantasy author by night means that Anna spends the vast majority of her time trying to arrange the right words in the right order, but her other interests include drawing, board games and large amounts of chocolate. She also writes books for older readers under the name A. F. E. Smith.

Sarah Harrison

Sarah Harrison was born and raised in Lancashire where she lives with her husband and two sons. She likes to hide in her writing shed known as the Witch Hut where she writes creepy and silly middle-grade stories away from four distracting pets – having learned that animals and open laptops should never be left alone together. She enjoys listening to loud rock music, repeatedly watching the extended cuts of The Lord of the Rings, never refuses tea or chocolate, and loves having adventures in her little red camper van.

Monique Turner

Monique was born and raised in the cold north of England on a diet of strong brews and thick gravy. Whilst growing up, she struggled to find her place in the world, so she vowed to create stories where those who don’t fit in can finally feel like they belong. When T.M. Turner isn’t writing, she can be found roaming the southern coast.

Madeline Claire Franklin

Madeline Claire Franklin is a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is queer, Jewish, and invisibly disabled, and lives in Western New York with her partner, two dogs, three cats, and two Roombas, in a little yellow house called Cluckleberry Farms.

Alice Nuttall

When Alice Nuttall was little, she was given a giant stack of yellowing scrap paper from the factory where her grandfather worked. She started writing stories on it, and didn’t stop even when it eventually ran out. Today, she writes children’s stories and webcomics, as well as pet-sitting and working in her local library. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two cats, the real-life Jack and Ollie.

Jessica Popplewell

Jess Popplewell was raised in the historic city of York before bravely crossing the Pennines to study English and Creative Writing in the historic city of Lancaster. She now lives in South London with her partner. Having experience of insecure housing, Jess is passionate about preventing homelessness for young people. She was a host for the York-based charity SASH for three years, offering her spare bedroom to young people in need of emergency accommodation.

Philip Kavvadias

Philip grew up in Athens, fell in love in Dublin and built a home in Windsor. He writes constantly: stories, screenplays, sketches, poems. As an engineer, he works in sustainability for one of the biggest brands in the world, and, as a Scout leader, he takes kids on real-life adventures. But most of all, Philip loves dinner with his family and snuggling for a movie.

Anna Waterworth

Anna lives in the north-east of England and works as a clinical psychologist. In 2015 she was shortlisted for the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition with her novel The Gallows Dance, the world which provided the inspiration for The Fandom.

Anna Rainbow

Anna grew up and still lives in North East England and works as a Clinical Psychologist with people with disabilities. Anna loves music and has always been in various choirs, singing quartets, bands, and orchestras.

Amie Jordan

Amie Jordan is from Salford and studied Film and Media at Manchester Metropolitan University. When she isn’t writing she spends most of her time knitting, having provided bespoke pieces for the costume departments of film, TV and theatre. Her other talents include solving Rubik’s cubes, getting hard knots out of string, and quoting Lord of the Rings start to finish. Amie lives near Manchester city centre with her son and their two cats and two dogs, Marvy, Marmalade, Major and Percy Jackson.

Marie Pavlenko & Marie Voyelle

Marie and Marie have known each other for a long time – their first cats were actually brother and sister! Marie P writes and Marie V illustrates. If Marie V were a cat, she would eat biscuits while sitting on Marie P’s keyboard. If Marie P were a cat, she would eat dandelions rather than mice.

Laila Rifaat

Laila moved to Cairo, Egypt, in her twenties to explore her father’s native country. She fell in love with the country and has lived in Cairo for over twenty years now. It remains a main source of inspiration for her stories. She has an MA in English and Comparative Literature and has worked as an ESL and IGCSE teacher. Nowadays she’s a stay-at-home mum to her four kids.

Lisa Richardson

Lisa Richardson has a first-class honours degree in Creative and Professional Writing and works as a production editor. When not writing, Lisa can be found reading, binge-watching Netflix with her sons, or running and taking photographs along the Kent coast.