Rob is the award-winning creator of MANY bestselling books, and is owned by Ringo, the spaniel. They live in a house in London with their family, and Rob has been barking up the RIGHT tree for a while now – his picture books have won many prizes and are loved by children all over the world. You can visit Rob and all his friends at www.robbiddulph.com.
Ivan was born in Edinburgh in 1989, in a bike shop, or so he thought for a good chunk of his childhood. As a Philosophy undergraduate at Bristol University he spent his spare time scribbling on the backs of bus tickets, crisp packets, or whatever else he could get his hands on. Thankfully these scribbles ended up becoming a book. He now lives in London and is a full-time writer.
Charles Butler lives in Bristol, where he works as an English Lecturer specialising in children’s fantasy.
Helen Baugh wrote her first book (a book of spells) as a very young child. After taking a degree, travelling and working as a copywriter, she finally came full circle and started writing children’s books again. Helen lives with her partner and their two daughters near the sea in Sussex.
Rachel is a writer of words, drawer of pictures and thinker of happy thoughts. With a cacophony of quirky characters tumbling tirelessly from her imagination, she is one of the South West’s most prolific talents. Creating a growing portfolio of beautifully imagined children’s stories, an award-winning card and gift empire and a smorgasbord of delicate etchings, silk-screens and hand-printed poems, Rachel brings her own unique sunshine to the very young and the slightly older alike.
Jill Barklem was drawn to the natural world from childhood. While training as an illustrator at St Martin’s School of Art, her long journeys to college gave her time to escape into the imaginary world of a colony of mice, later to be developed as the enchanting miniature world of Brambly Hedge.
Sebastien Braun is a young artist from Alsace, who studied Fine Arts in Strasbourg. He has produced numerous paintings for advertising and loves making toys. Sebastien lives in Gloucestershire with his wife and two sons.
Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire on 13 January 1926 and educated at Presentation College, Reading. He served in the Royal Air Force and the British Army before working as a cameraman for BBC TV for 19 years. In 2015, Michael was awarded a CBE for his services to children’s literature, to add to the OBE he received in 1997. Michael died in 2017, leaving behind one of the great literary legacies of our time.
