Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings

Elizabeth Laird

Elizabeth Laird is the award-winning author of many highly acclaimed novels. She has written over 30 books for children on a broad range of subjects, from historical adventures to real life stories, picture books to retelling of folk tales. She has won many awards, including the Children's Book Award for Kiss the Dust, the Smarties Young Judges Award, and the Lancashire Book Award. Elizabeth has been shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal five times as well as every other major children’s book award.

Shirin Adl

Shirin Adl is an Iranian illustrator with a passion for bright colours and interesting textures. When she was little and could only read Farsi, pictures made books in other languages accessible, as she looked at them to work out the story. After she learned English, she sometimes came across a picture book she'd decoded as a child and realised the tale was very different to the one she'd thought of!

For Shirin, book illustrations complement the text, but can also tell their own story. She especially enjoys creating busy scenes where she depicts different characters, giving each one an imaginary life; so it makes her very happy when children or parents tell her that they've enjoyed coming up with their own ideas about her pictures. Shirin studied illustration at Loughborough University and lives in Oxford.