Julia Donaldson is a top selling author of children’s books with over 65 million books sold worldwide. Among her greatest successes are Room on the Broom, The Gruffalo and Stick Man (all illustrated by Axel Scheffler), What the Ladybird Heard (illustrated by Lydia Monks) and The Giant Jumperee (illustrated by Helen Oxenbury). Julia’s books have been translated into over 72 languages.

Julia lives in the UK with her husband Malcolm and divides her time between Sussex in the South and Edinburgh in Scotland. From 2011 to 2013, she was the UK Children’s Laureate. Julia writes fiction, poems, plays and songs, as well as picture books. The TV films of The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom have both been nominated for Oscars.

Karen George has always loved drawing and painting and as a child it was her absolute favourite thing to do. A graduate of The Royal College of Art, Karen used to paint sets for films but turned her creative attentions to picture book illustration after becoming mum to her two young sons. In 2009 Karen won the inaugural Waterstones' Picture This competition.

She then illustrated Julia Donaldson's stories, Freddie and the Fairy and Wake up Do, Lydia Lou! She now writes her own stories as well as illustrating, and lives in Bristol with her family and Dr Calamari the cat.