HELEN Brandom is a former primary school teacher who has written for the stage as well as TV and radio. Her TV commissions include series episodes for Granada Television, Carlton TV and the BBC. In addition to an original Woman’s …
PAMELA Butchart lives in Dundee with her baby boy and their two awesome cats, Bear and Carlos. If she wasn’t working as a writer and a teacher she’d like to open a luxury hotel for stray cats. As a child, …
CHRISTINA Collins grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, devouring books, looking for secret gardens, and using “wicked” as an adverb. She spent a year in England, as a visiting student at the University of Oxford, and three years …
JIM Daly is a comedian, presenter, actor and podcaster. His warm and engaging style has seen him performing at comedy clubs all over the UK as well as grow his comedy YouTube channel to 32 million views and over 100,000 …
DONNA David grew up in the West Midlands in a house full of noisy siblings, fun parents, mad aunties and maggots (her dad is a fisherman). She’d often be found reading by torch light way after bed time and this love …
JAMES Davis lives in Manchester with his two favourite humans: the one he married and the one that popped out of that one. He likes sprinting after balls, waterslides and other people’s dogs. He has been known to perform stand-up …
KEIGHLEY Douglas is a teacher and Head of Year in a secondary school in Greenwich, London. She has a huge interest in sports, particularly athletics which she used to compete in and now coaches. In 2020 Keighley launched Kids Black …
RACHEL Emily was born in Worcestershire and is currently living in North-East London where she has been a published songwriter for almost a decade. Rachel’s commercial successes include penning and producing UK number one and US platinum-selling singles and her …
LOUISE Finch has worked for over a decade in the non-profit sector on issues including women’s rights and health. She grew up in a small town in the Midlands and graduated from Lancaster University with a degree in Art History …
SAM Gayton lives by the sea in Margate, where he spends his time creating all sorts of stuff. His six middle grade novels, published by Andersen Press, have been translated into several languages and have been twice nominated for the …
SITAL Gorasia Chapman writes fiction, non-fiction and poetry for children. Her debut picture book, The Bedtime Boat, was published by Farshore in 2023 and shortlisted for The Week Junior Book Awards. Her other books include Kindness Comes Back (also published …
RUTH Hatfield lives in Cambridge, however as a field archaeologist she is often to be found in far flung locations around the world. Ruth has been writing stories for most of her life, and what she loves most is to …
LARRY Hayes is easily distracted. So when he’s not writing books for children he can be found working as an investment fund manager, the trustee for a homeless charity and on Fridays he home-schools his two kids by letting them …
SHARON Hopwood lives in Worcestershire where she runs a boxing and martial arts gym with her husband and son. Sharon is a 4th Dan Black Belt in Free Fighting, the highest grade achieved by a female in this discipline. She …
PETER Jones started professional life as a particularly rubbish graphic designer, followed by a stint as a mediocre petrol pump attendant. After that he got embroiled in the murky world of credit cards until a freak accident with a zip …
J M Joseph grew up on the East Coast of America before crossing the ocean to Ireland, where he studied for four years and later settled in England. He now lives in Bristol with his wife, three children and two …
TITANIA Krimpas trained in drama and theatre arts at the University of Birmingham and Central School of Speech and Drama. Before studying for an MA in Writing for Children at Bath Spa she wrote a stage adaptation of The Little …
MIKE Lancaster lives in Cambridge with his wife, kids, dogs, cats, horses, the Leopard Geckos, and somewhere in between the zoo-keeping he writes stories. His first novel, 0.4 was published by Egmont Press both the UK and in the US …
BETH O’Brien is an English Literature BA and Creative Writing MA graduate from the University of Birmingham. Work and leisure overlap a lot as reading, writing, and audio-booking are some of her favourite things to do. Beth is the author …
Nicola Penfold was born in Billinge and grew up in Doncaster. She studied English Literature at Cambridge University. Nicola has worked in a reference library and for a health charity, but being a writer was always the job she wanted …
KATE Peridot writes picture books and illustrated non-fiction children’s books for curious and daring 3–11-year-olds. Her first three books were released in 2023: Caring Conservationist Who Are Changing the World with Walker Books, Meet the Bears with Hachette, and My …
LUI Sit was born in Hong Kong, raised in Australia and lives in London. She fell in love with reading, then writing when she learned English at primary school. Branching out, she started writing plays which she performed for her …
RACHEL Valentine was born in Kent and grew up in both the UK and Germany. She read psychology at Warwick University, then physiotherapy at Brunel. She then practiced as a physiotherapist in the NHS in London until her husband’s work …
SUE Wallman is a former magazine journalist who now works in a secondary school library. She grew up on the south coast of England, and graduated from Oxford Brookes with a degree in Publishing and English, and now lives in …
JACQUELINE Whitehart found traditional diets hard to fit into her life. But the 5:2 diet has proved different and has revolutionized her life. Jacqueline Whitehart is a huge advocate of the 5:2 diet and now a leading expert in the …
JOE Wilson has spent much of his life reporting on sport for the BBC. From dressage to darts, from Arbroath to Ahmedabad he’s followed the stories. Joe forged a path to journalism having failed in his initial career choices of …