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Authors beginning with: C

Aidan Chambers

Aidan Chambers (born 27 December 1934) is a British author of children's and young-adult novels. He won both the British Carnegie Medal and the American Printz Award for Postcards from No Man's Land (1999). For his "lasting contribution to children's literature" he won the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.

Andy Cutbill

Andy Cutbill is the author of The Cow That Laid an Egg, illustrated by Russell Ayto. Andy also created and developed Albie, the award-winning British animated television show for children. Prior to his successful show, he spent several years writing television commercials. He still spends his time writing for grown-up companies but occasionally escapes to write children's books. He lives in Devon, England, with his wife, son, daughter, and dog.

Anne Cassidy

Anne Cassidy lives in Essex. She was a teacher for twenty years. Her first book was published in 1991 and she has since published over twenty teen novels. She is the author of Looking for JJ, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award 2004 and the Carnegie Medal 2005 and won the 2004 Booktrust Teenage Book Award.

As a crime writer, inspiration for Anne's books often comes from news stories of teen crime. Anne is also interested in the philosophical aspect of murder. She says, 'People take great delight in reading Crime Fiction. Why is this? We live in a modern liberal society which abhors the death penalty yet we soak up murder stories in print and on television. So I asked myself the question is it ever right to murder? Are there any circumstances that make murder the preferable option?'

Anne-Marie Conway

Anne-Marie Conway is a primary school teacher specializing in drama and also runs her own children's theatre company, Full Circle. She lives in London with her husband and their two sons.

Anne-Marie's first book, Phoebe Finds Her Voice, was shortlisted for the inaugural Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition and picked for the Summer Reading Challenge 2011. Since then she has written two more books in the Starmakers series and the bestselling novel Butterfly Summer. Forbidden Friends, came out in May 2013.

B R Collins

B. R. Collins was born in 1981 and lives in Kent. She studied English at Kings College, Cambridge, then trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

She is the author of several novels for young adults. Her first book, The Traitor Game, won the 2009 Branford Boase Award and her second, A Trick of the Dark (2009), was shortlisted for the Coventry Inspiration Prize. 

Babette Cole

Babette Cole was born in Jersey in the Channel Islands. She graduated from Canterbury College of Art in 1973 and was the illustrator and author of more than 150 witty, imaginative, irreverent and thought-provoking picture books for children including the bestselling, stereotype-defying Princess Smartypants. She produced animated storyboards for the BBC and illustrated numerous greetings cards and books by other authors as well as her own. Babette adored the countryside and was a keen horse rider and breeder. She spent much of her life in Lincolnshire, before moving to Kent and then westward through Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

Caroline Jayne Church

Caroline Jayne Church was brought up in Oxford and studied Graphic Design at a London college in the early eighties. She has worked in every field of illustration but has specialised in children’s book illustration for the last ten years. She now writes and illustrates books from her studio near Farnham in Surrey where she lives with her husband Ian, son William, dog, horse and two gerbils! She really enjoys walking her dog, riding, and playing the guitar.

Cassandra Clare

Judith Lewis, better known by her pen name Cassandra Clare, is an American author of young adult fiction, best known for her bestselling series The Mortal Instruments. 

Cate Cain

Cate Cain is the pen name of Katherine Griffin. She currently works for the Society of Protection of Ancient Buildings in London and has previously worked for the Sir John Soane Museum. She also writes a weekly column for the Watford Gazette in Hertfordshire. Cate began her career training as a teacher and then went into journalism. She lives in St Albans.

Cathryn Constable

After reading Theology at Cambridge University, Cathryn Constable went on to work in magazine journalism, writing for Vogue, W, Elle Decoration, Elle, The Independent, Tatler and The Sunday Times, before realising her dream of blending a love for all things Russian with a story for children in The Wolf Princess. Cathryn is married with three children and lives in London.

Cathy Cassidy

Cathy Cassidy wrote and illustrated her first book at eight-years-old. She has worked as an editor on Jackie magazine, a teacher, and as agony aunt on Shout magazine. She lives in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, with her husband, two children, three cats, two rabbits and a mad hairy lurcher called Kelpie.

Cathy Cassidy's warm, funny, tender fiction including Dizzy, Indigo Blue, Sundae Girl and many more has won her an army of dedicated fans. The power and importance of friendship is at the heart of each of her books but most crucially, Cathy brings an element of magic to every story, discovering the magic that exists in every corner, in every day and sprinkling it through her narrative.

Cressida Cowell

Cressida Cowell is the number one bestselling author-illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once book series. How to Train Your Dragon is also an award-winning DreamWorks film franchise. Cressida is an ambassador for the National Literacy Trust, a trustee for World Book Day and a founder patron of the Children's Media Foundation. She lives in Hammersmith with her husband, three children and a dog called Pigeon. Cressida was our Writer in Residence in 2016-17

Cressida Cowell was the Waterstones Children's Laureate 2020 - 2021

Daniel Clowes

Daniel Gillespie Clowesis an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in Eightball, a solo anthology comic book series. An Eightball issue typically contained several short pieces and a chapter of a longer narrative that was later collected and published as a graphic novel, such as Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (1993), Ghost World (1997), and David Boring (2000).

Clowes's illustrations have appeared in The New Yorker, Newsweek, Vogue, The Village Voice, and elsewhere. With filmmaker Terry Zwigoff, Clowes adapted Ghost World into a 2001 film and another Eightball story into the 2006 film, Art School Confidential. Clowes's comics, graphic novels, and films have received numerous awards, including a Pen Award for Outstanding Work in Graphic Literature, over a dozen Harvey and Eisner Awards, and an Academy Award nomination.

Edward Carey

Edward Carey is a playwright, novelist and illustrator. He has worked for the theatre in London, Lithuania and Romania and with a shadow puppet master in Malaysia. He has written two illustrated novels for adults - Observatory Mansions and Alva and Irva - and both have been translated into many different languages. He lives in Austin, Texas, where he wrote the Iremonger Trilogy because he missed feeling cold and gloomy. Follow Edward on Twitter: @EdwardCarey70 or find out more about his books at edwardcareyauthor.com

Elen Caldecott

Elen Caldecott graduated with an MA in Writing for Young People from Bath Spa University and was highly commended in the PFD Prize for Most Promising Writer for Young People.

Before becoming a writer, she was an archaeologist, a nurse, a theatre usher and a museum security guard. It was while working at the museum that Elen realised there is a way to steal anything if you think about it hard enough. Elen either had to become a master thief, or create some characters to do it for her - and so her debut novel, How Kirsty Jenkins Stole the Elephant, was born. Kirsty Jenkins was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Prize and longlisted for the 2010 Carnegie Award.

Elen lives in Bristol with her husband, Simon, and their dog.

Emma Chichester Clark

Emma Chichester Clark was born on Hyde Park Corner, London, but grew up in the countryside in Ireland in an old white farmhouse surrounded by fields. She began to make books with sewn-up spines when she was about five. 

At school, aged about 16, Emma discovered a love of illustration. She went to Bristol Polytechnic to do a Foundation course. She went on to study at the Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College, where she was taught by Quentin Blake. Her first book, Listen to This!, won the 1988 Mother Goose Award for best newcomer to children's book illustration.

Emma has gone on to illustrate books by Roald Dahl, Peter Dickinson, Kevin Crossley-Holland and Michael Morpurgo. She has also written and illustrated many of her own books, including the immensely popular blue Kangaroo series. The first book, I Love You Blue Kangaroo, won awards in Italy and the USA, as well as being shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal.

Eoin Colfer

Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) was born in Wexford on the South-East coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his four brothers were brought up by his father (an elementary school teacher, historian and artist of note) and mother (a drama teacher). He first developed an interest in writing in primary (elementary) school with gripping Viking stories inspired by history he was learning in school at the time!

After leaving school he got his degree from Dublin university and qualified as a primary school teacher, returning to work in Wexford. He married in 1991 and he and his wife spent about four years between 1992 and 1996 working in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. His first book, Benny and Omar, was published in 1998, based on his experiences in Tunisia; it has since been translated into many languages. Then in 2001 the first Artemis Fowl book was published and he was able to resign from teaching and concentrate fully on writing.

Eric Carle

Eric Carle has illustrated more than seventy books, and more than 88 million copies of his books have sold around the world.

He is one of the best-known and loved of picture book creators. His work is immediately recognisable through his vibrant use of colour and tissue-paper collage. Eric Carle's most famous book is, of course, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

In the mid 1960s, Carle decided to give up a successful career in advertising to become an illustrator and graphic designer. His first published work appeared in a cookery book. Soon afterwards, children's book author Bill Martin asked him to illustrate the manuscript of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? The resulting book was an instant hit. Encouraged by this success, Carle began submitting ideas for his own books. One of these was Willie The Worm. His editor suggested that a caterpillar might prove a more endearing character - the rest is history.

Frank Cottrell-Boyce

Frank Cottrell-Boyce, father of seven, is an established British screenwriter whose credits include God on Trial, Welcome to Sarajevo, Hilary and Jackie and 24 Hour Party People. He lives in Merseyside with his family.

Frank's first book, Millions, won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2004 and has been shortlisted for a number of awards, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Award 2004. Millions has also been made into a movie directed by Danny Boyle. Frank's second novel, Framed, was published in September 2005 and shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Prize. It was made into a BBC feature-length film in 2009. Frank's third novel, Cosmic, was published in June 2008. It was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2008 and the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize.

Frank was asked by the Fleming Estate to write the official sequel to Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2012.

Having worked with director Danny Boyle on Millions, Danny asked Frank to be part of the team creating the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics. Frank worked on the project for two years as the official scriptwriter. The ceremony was met with worldwide acclaim and even included a section inspired by children's books.

Gillian Cross

Gillian Cross has been writing children's books for over twenty years. Before that she took English degrees at Oxford and Sussex Universities, and she had various jobs including working in a bakery and being an assistant to a Member of Parliament.

She is married with four children, and lives in Dorset. Her hobbies include orienteering and playing the piano. She won the Carnegie Medal for Wolf and the Smarties Prize and the Whitbread Children's Novel Award for The Great Elephant Chase.

Helen Cooper

Helen Cooper is a British illustrator and an author of children's literature. Cooper has twice been awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. She won for The Boy Who Wouldn't Go To Bed in 1996, which she wrote and illustrated. In 1998 she won for Pumpkin Soup, which she also wrote and illustrated. They were consecutive projects for her.

James Carter

After fifteen years of writing, performing and recording music (whilst doing a series of jobs from job centre interviewer to recruitment consultant), James went off to Reading University to do a B.Ed degree in primary education and an MA in children's literature.

He is now an award/prize-winning poet, as well as a non-fiction and educational writer. He is the author of many popular and best-selling poetry titles. He travels all over the UK to give lively poetry/music performances and workshops. In the last seventeen years, he has visited well over 1000 schools, and performed at various prestigious literary festivals, including Cheltenham, Hay and Edinburgh.

James lives in Wallingford with his four guitars, three ukuleles, two daughters and one wife.

James Campbell

Soon after discovering he could not be a duck James Campbell decided to make children laugh for a living. He now travels around primary schools and literary festivals, telling funny stories and encouraging children to write their own stuff. James has been on the BBC1 show, Child of Our Time, and CBBC’s Blue Peter, where he taught children how to craft their own jokes. Kids love him so much that he has his own Comedy4Kids show called The Funny Thing About… where he talks about his hilarious book.

Jo Cotterill

Jo Cotterill has had several careers - actor, musician, teacher, fireworks technician - but is now a full-time writer in Oxfordshire. She has published over thirty books for children and young people, including the award-winning Looking at the Stars, A Library of Lemons, and the superhero comic/novel Electrigirl.

Jo loves going into schools and talking about books and reading, and can be found making cards and writing music when she's not spending time with her two young daughters.

Joe Craig

Joe Craig is a novelist, screenwriter, songwriter and performer. He studied Philosophy at Cambridge University then became a songwriter, winning numerous awards for his music before unexpectedly turning to writing books. The success of his books led to a new career writing movies. He now splits his writing time between novels for children and adults, non-fiction and film projects.

When he's not writing he's visiting schools, playing the piano, drawing, inventing snacks, playing snooker, cricket and football, watching a movie or reading. He lives in London with his wife (broadcaster & adventurer Mary-Ann Ochota), his dog (Harpo the labradonkey) and his dwarf crocodile (Professor Sven).

John Chambers

John Chambers is a cartoonist and screenwriter who has developed concepts and written scripts for many animated seriew over the past ten years, including Jasper the Penguin (2002), Lazy Lucy (2003), The Incredible Gnarfs (2004),  The Journey of the Fourth King (2005), The School for Little Vampires (2006/2007), Oscar the Balloonist (2008/2009), The Little Knight Trenk (2009/2010) and Molly the Little Monster (2007-10). He also writes and draws the long-running comic strip 'The Adventures of Festy O'Semtex' for Phoenix magazine, and has contributed many cartoons to other publications.

John is from the west coast of Ireland and now lives in Berlin, Germany, with his partner and their three daughters.

Joseph Coelho

Joseph Coelho is an award-winning children's author, performance poet and playwright based in London. He is also the Waterstones Children's Laureate for 2022-2024. His debut poetry collection, Werewolf Club Rules, was the 2015 winner of the CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award. His second book, Overheard in a Tower Block, was shortlisted for the 2018 CLPE CLiPPA Poetry Award and is longlisted for the 2019 UKLA Book Awards. Joseph features in the BBC Teach 'Understanding Poetry' online series.

His work has poetry and performance at its heart, drawing on over 16 years' experience running dynamic creative literacy sessions in schools. He aims to inspire young people through stories and characters they can recognise.

You can check out his full catalogue here.

Katie Cleminson

Katie Cleminson gained her foundation diploma in Art and Design at Falmouth College. She went on to study Illustration for Children's Publishing at the North Wales School of Art, where she graduated with a First in the summer of 2007.

Katie works with inks, charcoal and Photoshop and loves the work of Lane Smith and Jackson Pollock. She's drawn to nostalgic items like gramophones, typewriters, pipes and bowler hats, which sometimes turn up in her work. 

In 2009 Katie won the Best Emerging Illustrator in the Book Trust Early Years Awards for Box of Tricks (Red Fox).

She was chosen for a BookTrust Best New Illustrators Award in 2011.

Katy Cannon

Katy was born in the United Arab Emirates, grew up in North Wales and now lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and two children. Her YA debut, Love, Lies and Lemon Pies, has been published in eight languages. She has since written Secrets, Schemes and Sewing Machines, And Then We Ran, How to Write a Love Story and The Switch Up series. She also writes adult romance novels under a pseudonym. 

Lauren Child

Lauren Child is a multi-award-winning, bestselling writer and artist whose books are known and loved the world over. She is the creator of characters including Clarice Bean, Ruby Redfort and Charlie and Lola.

Lauren Child has been at the forefront of innovation in children's books for over 15 years and has raised the profile of illustration as an artform for all ages. She's worked with mixed media, pioneered text as an integral part of illustration and collaborated with artists across different fields.

Lauren is also a passionate advocate for visual literacy and the importance of quality picture books for children. She is also passionate about encouraging creativity in children and adults. She is a trustee of House of Illustration, a gallery set up by Sir Quentin Blake. She has been awarded an MBE for her work and was appointed as an Artist for Peace by Unesco in 2008.

Lucy Cousins

Lucy Cousins is the multi-award-winning creator of Maisy. Other titles include the Smarties Book Prize-winner Jazzy in the Jungle, Hooray for Fish! - which now appears in animation in Japan; the bestselling New York Times Top 10 Children's Book Yummy; and the critically acclaimed I'm the Best. Lucy Cousins' books have sold over 26 million copies worldwide and are available in 29 different languages. Lucy lives in Petersfield, Hampshire with her partner and four children.

Lucy Christopher

Lucy Christopher was only 25 years old when she came to prominence with her debut novel Stolen. It garnered international critical acclaim, won the 2010 Branford Boase Award and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in the UK. Overseas it was awarded a Golden Inky and shortlisted for the prestigious Prime Minister’s Literary Award in Australia, and received a Printz Honor in the USA. It has now sold a quarter of a million copies worldwide and has been translated into 16 languages. Her second novel, Flyaway, was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award.

Lucy Christopher was born in Wales but grew up in Australia and currently lives by some woods in Monmouthshire. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and lectures in writing for children and young adults at Bath Spa University.

Lynne Chapman

Lynne Chapman has illustrated more than 30 children's books, which have been sold in 13 countries and adapted for the stage and television (CBBC and CITV). She has also been shortlisted for many prizes including the Red House Children's Book Award.

Maite Carranza

Maite Carranza was born in Barcelona and studied Anthropology at university. After a period of teaching, she began writing, both literature and for TV. She's written over 50 books, and has been recognised with some of Spain's most prestigious literary prizes including the Serra d'Or Critic Award, and the Spanish National Award (or Cerantes Chio Award) for her body of literature. Her fantasy trilogy La Guerra De Las Brujaz has been translated into over 30 languages. The Film of Our Life won the El Vaixell De Vapor award. She is a frequent visitor to schools and libraries.

Mark Chambers

Although he wanted to be a golfer, chef, fighter pilot and master Lego builder (not all at the same time), Mark found that his skills were much more suited to becoming a professional doodler. He graduated with a degree in Illustration from University of Lincoln in 2003 and the Bright Agency started to represent him a few months later. He now works from a studio which is a short walk from his house and shares it with a lobster, a Mogwai and a dancing robot!

Matt Carr

Matt Carr is an author, illustrator and graphic designer whose debut picture book, Superbat, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2018. Superbat and Matt's second picture book, Spyder, have published to international acclaim. He was Cheltenham Festivals (Children’s) Illustrator in Residence 2018. His latest book Rocketmole launched in April 2019. Matt loves tea and lives in East Sussex.

Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot is the author of many books, including the phenomenally successful The Princess Diaries series. Her books have sold millions of copies round the world - and two million in the UK alone. She has lived in various parts of the US and France, but now lives in Key West, Florida, with her husband and one-eyed cat, Henrietta. 

Neill Cameron

Neill Cameron is a cartoonist and writer, creator of the comic books Mega Robo Bros,  Mo-Bot High, The Pirates of Pangaea  (with Daniel Hartwell), Tamsin and the Deep (with Kate Brown), and the instructional How To Make Awesome Comics. Since 2011 his work has appeared in the weekly children’s comic The Phoenix. In 2016 Mega Robo Bros and Tamsin and the Deep were both shortlisted for the British Comics Awards. In 2017, Mega Robo Bros won the Excelsior Award Jr, a national comic award voted for by school and library reading groups across the UK. In 2018 it was also chosen as one of the best children's comics of the year by both the New York Public Library and the Schools Library Journal.

Neill also works as an artist-in-residence at The Story Museum in Oxford, where he contributed several large-scale comic strip installations and continues to be involved in comics-based education and activities, including running a monthly Comics Club group for young cartoonists.

Neill frequently travels the country giving workshops in schools, libraries and at festivals, and is a passionate advocate for the role comics can play in developing literacy skills and encouraging children’s creativity.

Nick Crane

Nick Crane is a writer and well-loved television presenter. In 1992-3, he walked 6,214 miles across Europe, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea, an experience which he describes in his book Clear Waters Rising. Among his many other projects is Mercator: the Man Who Mapped the Planet, the definitive biography of Gerard Mercator, the 16^th-century map maker who invented the atlas. As a child, Nick spent many hours exploring the Norfolk countryside with a bicycle and a map; he has been travelling the world ever since. He lives with his family in London.

Penny Chrimes

Penny Chrimes worked for many years as a journalist, both in print and television journalism. She spent 18 years working at Sky News, where she was Executive Producer for political programmes (winning a BAFTA in 2008 for Best News Coverage of Glasgow Airport terror attack). She has also produced, directed and written documentaries using oral histories (Tsunami: 10 Years after the Wave; 7/7: 10 Years On). 

Penny now writes full-time for children. Her two middle grade titles, Tiger Heart and The Dragon and her Boy, are part of the Gutterling Chronicles, which follow a group of orphan children living in an alternate Victorian London, where magic lurks just under the surface.

Randy Cecil

Illustrating picture books is all I have ever wanted to do. At age four I wrote letters, with pictures included, to my favourite illustrators. My mother tells me I also included "tips" on how they might make their books better. Surprisingly, Joel Schick and Uri Shulevitz wrote me back!
I went to Rhode Island School of Design. I was lucky to get an internship as an assistant designer for a children's publishing company before my senior year. They offered me my first book around the time I graduated, as well as a job as a freelance designer for them when they were busy, which turned out to be a lot of the time.

Rebecca Cobb

Rebecca Cobb grew up in Buckinghamshire and Somerset, surrounded by coloured pencils, felt pens, wax crayons, poster paints and pieces of paper. She studied illustration at Falmouth College of Arts and has been living in Falmouth and working as an illustrator ever since.

She has illustrated books by Richard Curtis and Julia Donaldson, and her client list includes The Child Bereavement Charity, Continuum Publishing Group, Cornwall Editions, The Guardian, The Independent, Mabecron Books, Marion Boyars Publishers, Waitrose Food Illustrated and You Magazine.

Rod Campbell

Rod Campbell has been writing and illustrating children's books for thirty years. Best known for his classic lift-the-flap title Dear Zoo, he is also the creator of the much loved character, Buster. Ingeniously simple, with touches of gentle humour, his books continue to be enjoyed by children, parents and teachers alike. Rod lives in London.

Sarwat Chadda (also writes under Joshua Khan)

Sarwat Chadda has been published for a decade now, and in over a dozen languages. He's written urban fantasy for young adults, big mythologies, trilogies and, most recently, the epic Shadow Magic fantasy series under the pseudonym of Joshua Khan.

London-born and coming from a south Asian Muslim background, he is keen to explore the stories and mythologies of his heritage. The Ash Mistry series was inspired by his trips to India and his love for its stories, and he has adapted the Mahabharata in graphic novel form. Sarwat is based in south London.

Sharon Creech

Sharon was born in South Euclid, Ohio a suburb of Cleveland, and grew up there with her noisy and rowdy family: her parents (Ann and Arvel), her sister (Sandy), and her three brothers (Dennis, Doug and Tom).  In the summer, they usually took a trip, they all piled in a car and headed out to Wisconsin or Michigan or once to Idaho.  Her trip to Idaho was the inspiration for her book Walk Two Moons. 


It was in college, where she took literature and writing courses, that she became intrigued with story telling. Sharon received her BA at Ohio's Miram College and her Master of Arts from the University of Virginia. Her previous jobs include teacher, editorial assistant, indexer and a researcher. Sharon started writing novels for adults and published two books while she lived in England having moved there in 1979. She then wrote Absolutely Normal Chaos and since then has mainly written about young people.

Soman Chainani

Soman Chainani studied at Harvard, practically creating his own fairytale major. He is also an acclaimed screenwriter, whose films have played at more than 150 film festivals, winning more than 30 jury and audience prizes. When he’s not telling stories or teaching, Soman is a die-hard tennis player. You can visit Soman online at www.somanchainani.net

Stephen Cheetham

Stephen Cheetham is an English illustrator currently based in Bologna, Italy.

He studied Product Design at university, but his heart led him to pursue a career as an illustrator. His work combines clean lines, bold colours and humour to create a very recognisable style.

He has worked in the advertising, editorial and publishing sectors for a diverse range of clients including Google, British Airways and Uniqlo.

Steve Cole

Steve Cole is a bestselling author who has written over 200 books for children, including Astrosaurs, Young Bond and Z. Rex. As a writer-editor he has worked with the families of Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming, and at the BBC was in charge of Doctor Who publishing. In his spare time, Steve makes music and teaches salsa. He lives in Buckinghamshire but would rather live in space.

Susan Cooper

Susan Cooper is the author of the classic five-book sequence The Dark is Rising, which won a Newbery Medal, a Newbery Honor Award, and two Carnegie Honor Awards. Born in England, she was a reporter and feature writer for the London Sunday Times before coming to live in the United States. Her writing includes books for children and adults, a Broadway play, films, and Emmy-nominated screenplays. Her books for children are King of Shadows and Victory, and for adults a portrait of Revels founder Jack Langstaff called The Magic Maker. Susan lives and writes in Marshfield, Massachusetts.

Suzanne Collins

Suzanne made her mark in children's literature with the New York Times–bestselling Underland Chronicles, which started with the acclaimed book Gregor the Overlander. In The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins continues to explore the effect of violence on those coming of age. She was inspired to write The Hunger Games when an idea formed whilst she flicked between television channels broadcasting real war coverage and reality television programmes. The Hunger Games and the sequels Catching Fire and Mockinjay have been successfully brought to the big screen.

Suzanne lives with her family in Connecticut.

Svetlana Chmakova

Svetlana Chmakova is an internationally published, award-winning manga/comics author, with more than 10 published books and her work translated into over 13 languages. Born and raised in Russia, she moved to Canada at sixteen years old to finish high school and received a Classical Animation diploma from Sheridan College.

Her full-length manga and comics series include the fan-favorite romantic comedy Dramacon, the award-winning urban fantasy Nightschool: The Weirn Books, and the manga adaptation of the New York Times bestselling Witch & Wizard by James Patterson.

Tim Collins

Tim Collins is an author and former advertising copywriter who lives in London. He has published ten books that have sold well over 100,000 copies in total. They have covered topics such as social media, Dan Brown, the North of England and vampires. He has written for magazines and newspapers and has promoted his books on many TV and radio shows.

Tim is the author of the internationally successful Diary of a Wimpy Vampire series, which has won several awards voted for by young readers in the UK including Manchester Fiction City and the Lincolnshire Young People's Book Award and been published in twenty countries. He is also the author of the Monstrous Maud books for 5-8 year old readers, under the name A B Saddlewick, and has experience running school events and workshops with young readers.

Tom Clohosy Cole

Tom gew up in Brighton, where his interest in drawing took hold. He originally thought he’d be an architect but wasn’t very good at maths, so went to study illustration instead. After graduating, he made Space Race, a concertina book, which helped kick start things off. Tom has a number of picture books published, including WALL and The Red Prince, as well as Destination: Space with Wide Eyed Editions. He’s also illustrated many book covers and completed successful commercial projects for London advertising agencies. Tom finds inspiration in painting, photography, travel and space.

Trish Cooke

Former children's TV presenter Trish Cooke is an Olivier nominated playwright. She writes for theatre, TV, film and radio and is a multi-awardwinning children's author. Born and still living in Bradford, Trish's parents are from Dominica. Frustrated by the lack of roles for black women, Trish began writing plays she could act in herself. Similarly, when she had her first child, the lack of black characters in children's books drove her to create stories with black children in them.

Her most popular children's book, So Much, was voted one of the 100 Best Children's Books in 2016 by Time Out. It won the Smarties Book Prize and the W H Smith Award among others. In 2009, So Much was included in the National Strategy good practice publication on raising achievement of Caribbean children at foundation stage.

Zizou Corder

Zizou Corder is the not-so-secret identity of Louisa Young and her daughter Isabel Adomakoh Young, who have been writing together since Isabel was seven, including the critically acclaimed Lionboy trilogy, Lee Raven, Boy Thief & Halo.

They wander the world in a gilded balloon, and have 17 pet ducks and eight miniature grand pianos, as well as the lizard and the dead tortoise.