Giles Andreae is the author of many top selling award-winning picture books. For Orchard, these include Rumble in the Jungle, Commotion in the Ocean, and I Love My Mummy.

However, it is for the international bestseller Giraffes Can't Dance that he is best known. Giles is also the creator of Purple Ronnie, Britain's favourite stickman, and of the artist/philosopher, Edward Monkton.

These two ranges of greetings cards, books and merchandise have made Giles the country's top selling living poet and an icon of contemporary popular culture.

Giles lives with his wife, Victoria, a children's clothes designer, and their four young children by the river in Oxfordshire.

Nikki grew up in the countryside in a small village called Shrivenham in Oxfordshire. Nikki studied for her illustration degree in Swindon and since graduating in 2006 has illustrated books for children including 1,000 Animals, 1,000 Things to Eat, How to be a Superhero and How to be a Pirate.

Nikki spent a lot of her childhood drawing, reading and making mud pies in the garden. To this day she still does the same but gets paid for it too, which is lovely, and you'll be pleased to hear the mud pie business is still going strong.

Nikki loves creating characters for stories and is hugely inspired by animation and concept artists especially. One of her favourite cartoons is Looney Tunes' Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner - 'Beep, Beep!'