Philip Reeve was born and grew up in Brighton. He worked in a bookshop there and on various other projects before starting a career as an illustrator.

Although he has been writing stories since he was very young, Mortal Engines was the first to be published - and to incredible critical acclaim. Philip lives in Devon.

Derek Landy is the author of the internationally bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series, which has been published in 35 languages and won him many awards, including the Red House Children’s Book Award and the Irish Book of the Decade.

Derek lives in Ireland. where he spends much of his time trying to come up amusing bios. Demon Road is his brand-new YA series.

Susan Cooper is a world-renowned author of children's books. Born and brought up in England, she worked as a journalist before moving to America, where she now lives.

Her classic The Dark Is Rising sequence has won the Newbery Medal and was twice shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Her Boggart titles have won the Scottish Arts Council Children's Book Award and been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Smarties Prize.

King of Shadows was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. As well as writing novels, Susan Cooper has written for the theatre and for television.

Robin Jarvis started writing in 1988 and quickly became a bestselling author with his Deptford Mice and Whitby Witches series.

Before becoming an author, Robin was a model maker for TV and films. He has been shortlisted for the Carnegie and Smarties Awards, and won the Lancashire Libraries Book of the Year Award.

Robin lives and works in Greenwich, London.

Berlie Doherty has written many books for young people and has twice won the Carnegie Medal – for Granny Was a Buffer Girl and Dear Nobody.

Her other titles include Spellhorn, Daughter of the Sea, Willa and Old Miss Annie (Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal) and the anthology Tales of Wonder and Magic. She also writes poetry and plays.

She lives in Yorkshire.

Matt Haig is the internationally bestselling author of the novels The Midnight Library, How to Stop Time, The Humans, The Radleys, children's novel A Boy Called Christmas, and memoir Reasons to Stay Alive.

His latest novel is The Life Impossible, which will be published in September 2024. His work has been translated into over fifty languages.

Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 24 countries and has sold over a million copies. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, is now a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Jamila Gavin was born in Mussoorie, India, in the foothills of the Himalayas. With an Indian father and an English mother, she inherited two rich cultures which ran side by side throughout her life, and which always made her feel she belonged to both countries. The family finally settled in England where Jamila completed her schooling, was a music student, worked for the BBC and became a mother of two children. It was then that she began writing children's books, and felt a need to reflect the multi-cultural world in which she and her children now lived.

Mal Peet's first novel, Keeper, won the Branford Boase Award and the Bronze Nestle Children's Book Prize; Tamar won the Carnegie Medal; and Exposure was the winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.

A writer and illustrator, Mal produced many books for children throughout his lifetime, most of them in collaboration with his wife, Elspeth Graham.

He also wrote a critically acclaimed adult novel, The Murdstone Trilogy.