Summer Waters is the pen name for Julie Sykes, a successful picture book and young fiction author and a full-time mum, with more than two million copies sold of her character series. Before becoming an author she worked as a laboratory technician and then a teacher.
She’s always had a love for Cornwall but currently lives in Hampshire with her husband and three children in a 200-year-old cottage.
Mark Sperring is the author of several highly-acclaimed picture books including the Sunflower Sword and Captain Buckleboots on the Naughty Step. He lives in Bristol where he also works as a bookseller.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll (1832–1898), was an English writer, mathematician, logician, deacon and photographer. He is most famous for his timeless classics, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. His work falls within the genre of ‘literary nonsense’, and he is renowned for his use of word play and imagination. Carroll’s work has been enjoyed by many generations across the globe.
Born in Bath, Sophie has a BA in Creative Writing and MA in Writing for Young People from Bath Spa University. Her debut series, Scarlet and Ivy was reviewed as “A true page-turning, nail-biting mystery” by The Guardian Children’s Reviews. Now working as a full-time writer, Sophie lives with her husband and daughter in Wiltshire.
Jenny Valentine is an award-winning writer for Young Adults. Her first novel Finding Violet Park won the Guardian prize in 2007 and since then she has written six more, including Broken Soup and Fire Colour One, as well as Iggy and Me, a series for younger children. Her work has been published in 19 countries and Hello Now, her latest YA novel, was published in the UK and US in April 2020. She lives all over the place and has two daughters.
Carolyn Bear has published books for children of all ages, ranging from picture books to novels for young adults (using the name Chloe Rayban). Formerly an advertising copywriter, she lives in London with her husband and daughters. She is also a painter.
Alex Parsons is the author of The Lost Diary of Queen Victoria’s Undermaid and two Blyton novelisations for Collins. Alex also writes non-fiction for DK and Watts as well as screen plays, one of which Maggie goes to Hollywood is currently in production in the States.
Alex lives in St Margarets with her husband Ian and daughter Chloe. They also have two older children, Casey-Joe and Thaddeus.
Justin Fisher is a title sequence designer for Hollywood movies and commercials. He’s designed for Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Brian Singer, for everything from X-Men 2 to Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. This is his first novel. Justin lives with his wife and three young children in London. He has never been in the circus but he can juggle. Sort of.
Mark Haddon has written a number of successful picture books with HarperCollins, including Sea of Tranquility, illustrated by Christian Birmingham, and is best known for his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. He lives in Oxford with his wife and two sons.
Rowan Coleman has been writing books for adults and children since 2002 when she won Company Magazine’s ‘Young Writer of the Year.’ Her books for adults include The Times Bestsellers The Accidental Mother and The Baby Group. Rowan is currently writing the Ruby Parker series for girls, featuring child star Ruby Parker who is just like any other thirteen-year-old girl – except she is famous. Rowan lives in Hertfordshire with her husband, young daughter and a standard poodle called Polly.
