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.

Chris Baker read Modern History at Oxford University, where he specialised in military history. He spent thirty-seven years as a civil servant in the UK Ministry of Defence, dealing with defence policy, programme and resource issues. Battleships have been a lifelong interest, and his study of them has come to fruition in this, his first book.

Anne Fine read Politics and History at Warwick and then became a teacher. Her first novel was published in 1975 and today she is one of the UK's most successful children's writers.

She has won many awards including two Carnegie Medals, the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Whitbread Prize. Goggle-Eyes was serialised on TV and Madame Doubtfire was made into a hit Hollywood movie.

Anne lives in County Durham.

Chris Powling was editor of the children's book magazine Books for Keeps from 1989-1996 when it won the Eleanor Farjeon Award for services to children's literature, has served on numerous prize panels and is consultant to a national children's book club.

He has written more than sixty books for children including The Mustang Machine, The Phantom Carwash, The Conker As Hard As A Diamond and The Multi-Million Pound Mascot.

Michael Morpurgo has an unparalleled reputation as a children's storyteller. He was Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005, has written over 100 books and is the winner of many awards, including the Whitbread Children's Book Award, the Smarties Book Prize, the Blue Peter Award and the Red House Children's Book Award.

His books are translated and read around the world and his hugely popular novel War Horse is now both a critically acclaimed stage play and a highly successful film. Michael and his wife, Clare, live in Devon.

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.

Alan Marks began his career illustrating for magazines and newspapers. His first children's book Storm, written by Kevin Crossley Holland, won the Carnegie Medal. Alan now illustrates a wide variety of subjects, from nursery rhymes to war poetry. He is the illustrator of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book A Mother’s Journey, Behold the Beautiful Dung Beetle, Planet Zoo, The Spirit of the Forest, and more. Alan lives in an old house in the Kent countryside with his wife and two daughters.

Rachel Cloyne has always loved drawing. Since completing her illustration degree in 2004 she has illustrated book jackets, colouring books, children's fiction and a pop-up book for several publishers over the last 8 years.

Her latest work for Nosy Crow, inspired by objects from the British Museum, utilizes her ability for incorporating a wide range of classic and historical design into a contemporary style all of her own.

She lives in Brighton with her husband and two cats. In her spare time she likes to swim in the Brighton sea, tend to her many plants and cook up recipes for her friends and family.