P.L. Travers, born in 1899, grew up on a sugar plantation in Australia, one of three sisters. Pamela deliberately kept her life very private. She lived for a while in Ireland and London, and travelled frequently to America, where she was made writer in residence to both Smith and Radcliffe Colleges in Massachusetts.

She also received an honorary doctorate from Chatham College, Pittsburgh. Although she worked as a secretary, a dancer and an actress, writing wasP.L. Travers' real love, and for many years she was a journalist.

It was while she was recuperating from a serious illness that she wrote Mary Poppins - 'to while away the days, but also to put down something that had been in my mind for a long time,' she said. She wrote eight Mary Poppins books altogether and several other children's books as well as adult books.

Júlia Sardà has illustrated everything from classic children's books to concept art for merchandise and video games, and covers for the likes of The Clockwork Sparrow, Rose Campion and the Stolen Secret and Beetle Boy by M. G. Leonard.

She is the illustrator of the acclaimed The Liszts, Sweep and The Problim Children, and she illustrated One Day in Wonderland: A Celebration of Lewis Carroll's Alice by Kathleen Krull. Her illustrations of classic stories include Oliver Twist, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.