The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

Like her heroine Kat, Stephanie Burgis comes from a big,noisy, loving family. She grew up in Michigan, USA, where as a little girl she became addicted to reading and writing stories. At the age of ten, Stephanie’s favourite books were The Lord of the Rings and Pride and Prejudice, and, in her own words, ‘Writing the Kat books was my chance to finally combine fantasy adventure and nineteenth-century romantic comedy – the two kinds of story I love best.’

Before Stephanie became a full-time writer, she was a student of music, playing the French horn. She won a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study in Vienna, Austria, and earned a Master’s degree in music history. Stephanie has had lots of different jobs, including teaching English to teenagers in Vienna and editing the website of an opera company in northern England.

Stephanie now lives in Wales with her husband, toddler son and their sweet border collie dog, Maya.

Freya Hartas is currently a student studying illustration at Falmouth University.

Dirk Lloyd has been her first commission and one that she is very grateful for. She has thoroughly enjoyed interpreting Dirk's absurd escapades with elaborate landscapes of the Darklands, classrooms of goblin school children and evil Headmasters. She hopes to pursue a career in children's book illustration in the future (if Dirk will let her out of his dungeon that is).