Susan Cooper (Author) Susan Cooper is a world-renowned author of children's books. Born and brought up in England, she worked as a journalist before moving to America, where she now lives. Her classic The Dark Is Rising sequence has won the Newbery Medal and was twice shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Her Boggart titles have won the Scottish Arts Council Children's Book Award and been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Smarties Prize. King of Shadows was also shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. As well as writing novels, Susan Cooper has written for the theatre and for television. Her website is at www.thelostland.com and her Facebook is at www.facebook.com/SusanCooperFanPage.Joseph Delaney (Author) Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 24 countries and has sold over a million copies. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, is now a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.Berlie Doherty (Author) Berlie Doherty began writing for children in 1983, after teaching and working in radio. She has written more than 35 books for children, as well as for the theatre, radio and television. Berlie has won the Carnegie Medal twice: in 1987 for GRANNY WAS A BUFFER GIRL and in 1992 for DEAR NOBODY. She has also won the Writer's Guild Children's Fiction Award for DAUGHTER OF THE SEA. Her work is published all over the world, and many of her books have been televised.Jamila Gavin (Author) Jamila's first book, The Magic Orange Tree, was published in 1979 and she has since been writing steadily, producing critically acclaimed novels and collections of short stories. She has been shortlisted for many of the major children's book awards, including the Smarties Award and the Guardian Award. Coram Boy won the Children's Whitbread Award and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, before being adapted for the stage. The Wheel of Surya, part one of the Surya trilogy, was runner up for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award, and the other two titles were also shortlisted.Matt Haig (Author) Matt Haig is a British author for children and adults. His memoir Reasons to Stay Alive was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children's novels have won the Smarties Gold Medal, the Blue Peter Book of the Year, been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and nominated for the Carnegie Medal three times. His books have received praise from Neil Gaiman, Stephen Fry, Jeanette Winterson, Joanne Harris, Patrick Ness, Ian Rankin and SJ Watson, among others. The Guardian summed up his writing as 'funny, clever and quite, quite lovely' by The Times and the New York Times called him 'a writer of great talent'.Eleanor Updale (Author) Eleanor Updale has been writing books since the turn of the century. Before that she worked in radio and television: mainly on news programmes including The World at One and Newsnight. Eleanor's 'Montmorency' series has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic, and Johnny Swanson was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, shortlisted for the UKLA Book Awards and won the Fantastic Book Award. You can find out more at www.eleanorupdale.com
