Russell Hoban is the author of many famous novels, including Turtle Diary and Riddley Walker, which won the John W. Campbell Award for science fiction.

He also wrote over 50 children’s books, including such classics as The Mouse and His Child, The Sea-Thing Child and, most recently, Rosie’s Magic Horse and Soonchild.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1925, he moved in 1969 to London, where he lived until his death in 2011.

Quentin Blake has been drawing ever since he can remember. He taught illustration for over twenty years at the Royal College of Art, of which he is an honorary professor.

He has won many prizes, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, the Eleanor Farjeon Award and the Kate Greenaway Medal, and in 1999 he was appointed the first Children’s Laureate.

In the 2013 New Year’s Honours List he was knighted for services to illustration.