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Mark Swallow
Mark Swallow was born in 1963. After studying history at Oxford University, he trained as a journalist on the Gloucestershire Echo. He has travelled and worked in China and India. He is now a teacher in Bristol, where he lives with his wife and son, Finn.
June Sarpong
Ibi Zoboi was born in Haiti, and holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing has been published in The New York Times Book Review, and The Rumpus, among others. She is the author of American Street, a US National Book Award finalist. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and three children. You can find her online at www.ibizoboi.net.
Michael Scott
Michael Scott, OBE, is a writer and broadcaster with a training in botany and education, and a special interest in Scottish mountain flowers. He has run many adult education classes on wild flowers and leads natural history courses and study tours. He is Scottish Officer of the conservation charity Plantlife and edits Scottish Environment News.
Yusef Salaam
Dr. Yusef Salaam was just fifteen when he was wrongly convicted in the “Central Park jogger” case, along with four other boys. In 2002, after years behind bars, they were fully exonerated. Their story has been documented in award-winning film The Central Park Five and acclaimed Netflix series When They See Us. Yusef is now a poet, activist and inspirational speaker who lives in Atlanta, GA. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama. www.yusefspeaks.com
Adam Stower
Adam Stower is an author and illustrator, who has collaborated with David Walliams on several of his books for children.
Holly Surplice
Holly studied illustration at Edinburgh College of Art and her first picture book, Silly Jack, was published in 2006. Since then, she has created a number of picture books, including her first title for HarperCollins, About a Bear, which was published in 2011.
Holly has recently moved from Edinburgh to Henley-on-Thames with her husband, their two young daughters and a Dalmatian called Marbles, all of whom provide constant inspiration for her work.