Richmal Crompton was born in 1890 and is best known for her thirty-eight books featuring William Brown, which were published between 1922 and 1970. Born in Lancashire, Crompton won a scholarship to Royal Holloway in London, where she trained as a schoolteacher, graduating in 1914, before turning to writing full-time in 1923. Alongside the William novels, Crompton wrote forty-one novels for adults, as well as nine collections of short stories. She died in 1969.

David Roberts is the author-illustrator of the Dirty Bertie books and the illustrator of many books for children, including the Kate Greenaway-shortlisted The Dunderheads, written by Paul Fleischman, the bestselling Rosie Revere, Engineer and Ada Twist, Scientist, both written by Andrea Beaty and Julian Clary's The Bolds series. Born in Liverpool, he now lives in London.