Oliver Jeffers
Oliver Jeffers is an artist, designer, illustrator and writer from Northern Ireland.
From figurative painting, collage and installation to illustration and award winning picture-books, Oliver Jeffers practice takes many forms.
His distinctive paintings have been exhibited in multiple cities, including the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Brooklyn Museum New York.
HarperCollins UK and Penguin USA publish his picture books, now translated into over 30 languages, including The Incredible Book Eating Boy, and the New York Times Bestseller This Moose Belongs to Me and #1 New York Times Bestseller The Day The Crayons Quit.
Oliver won an Emmy in 2010 for his collaborative work with artist and filmmaker Mac Premo. He has made art for Newsweek, The New York Times, United Airlines, TED, Nintendo, and has illustrated a a number of novels.
In 2007, Jeffers was the official illustrator for World Book Day.
Lost and Found became Oliver's first book to made into animation by London based Studio AKA, screening on Christmas Eve 2008 on Channel 4 in the UK and on Nickelodeon in the US and Australia.
Oliver was born in Port Hedland, Australia, grew up and was educated in Belfast Northern Ireland and now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Zak Simmonds-Hurn
Zak Simmonds-Hurn is a freelance artist specialising in comic art and animation pre-production.
Lisa Williamson
Lisa Williamson was born and grew up in Nottingham. She studied drama at Middlesex University and since graduating has worked as an actor on stage and TV. Between acting jobs Lisa temped in offices across London, typing stories when no one was looking, one of which eventually became The Art of Being Normal.
Andrew Norriss
Andrew Norriss is The Whitbread (now Costa) Award-winning author of Aquila. Andrew started his writing career in television, and after writing many brilliant series for adults and children (including dramatising his own books Matt’s Million and Aquila) he now writes novels full time. His recent Archie series for (slightly) younger readers was also published by David Fickling Books.
David Wyatt
David Wyatt is an artist and illustrator. David has illustrated Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean (Illustrated Edition, 2008), the Larklight trilogy and the Mortal Engines and Fever Crumb quartets by Philip Reeve. He has also illustrated books by J. R. R. Tolkien, Diana Wynne Jones, Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman, Terry Deary and Brian Jacques. He has designed the covers and illustrations for Conrad Mason's Tales of Fayt fantasy trilogy as well as drawing the Tales of Fayt graphic novel The Mystery of the Crooked Imp.
Robert Deas
Robert Deas is a UK comic writer and artist. Robert has also worked extensively with Medikidz, writing comic books that help explain illnesses to children in an accessible way, using a team of young superheroes that travel inside the human body. Robert’s early career was characterised by graphic novel adaptations of literary classics such as Manga Shakespeare: Macbeth and Pride & Prejudice.
Peter Bailey
Peter Bailey was born in India and grew up in London. Since graduating from the Brighton School of Art, his extraordinary career has seen him illustrate books by some of Britain's best-known authors and poets, including Allan Ahlberg and Alexander McCall Smith. For twenty years he also taught illustration at the Liverpool School of Art and many of his students have gone on to great success.
Peter’s longtime collaboration with Philip Pullman is recognised as one of the great author-illustrator partnerships of recent years, with the Observer noting that "Bailey's ink drawings have a finely etched quality that cunningly reflects the intricacy of Pullman's narrative machinery."
Much of his work has been for children, but he has also illustrated books for adults for The Folio Society, including a collection of John Betjeman’s poetry.
Laura Ellen Anderson
Laura Ellen Anderson is a children's book author and illustrator, and creator of 'Evil Emperor Penguin', found in the weekly story comic The Phoenix and in graphic novel form from David Fickling Books.
Jon Klassen
Jon Klassen is the author-illustrator of I Want My Hat Back, and This Is Not My Hat, winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal. He is also the illustrator of Extra Yarn and The Dark, which he created with Lemony Snicket. Originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario, Jon Klassen now lives in Los Angeles.
Martin Brown
Martin Brown was born in Australia but currently lives in Dorset. In 1993, he illustrated the first of the HORRIBLE HISTORIES, and has now contributed to more than 60 titles in the series.
Ian Beck
Ian Archibald Beck (born 1947 in Brighton) is an English children's illustrator and author. In addition to his numerous children's books, he is also most famous for his cover illustration on Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album. He has sold more than a million copies of his books worldwide.
Sally Christie
Sally Christie’s first job, nearly thirty years ago, was with a publisher of children’s books. While she was there, she had a go at writing herself and (cunningly calling herself Syd Carter) sent the story to an editor in her own office. It was accepted. She has grown up a lot since then, with two notable results: The Icarus Show is a much better story than Syd’s was; and she felt able to submit it to David Fickling Books under her own name.
K.M. Peyton
Kathleen Peyton is the highly acclaimed author of more than sixty novels, including titles in the much-loved Flambards series for which she was awarded the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award.
She has two grown-up daughters and lives in Essex with her husband.
Nick Ward
Nick Ward is the creator of several hugely popular picture books for children. Don't Eat the Teacher!, published by Scholastic, has sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide and has been translated into numerous languages. Nick is also the writer and illustrator of the action-packed Charlie Small series. Nick lives and works in the country and his studio is an old Victorian school.
Matt Spink
Matt Spink is an author and illustrator who loves to doodle and lives by the sea. He also runs a busy creative department at a leading advertising company in London, and to top that off has three young children, who are his main inspiration.He has pile upon pile of kid’s books stacked up around his house and probably enjoys reading them more than his daughters!
His love of great design and doodling birds helped him to create Some Birds, his début picture book. Matt plays rhythm guitar in his band and throws pots on a potter’s wheel, as he studied ceramics at university.
Liz Flanagan
LIZ FLANAGAN writes for children and young adults. She’s currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing at Leeds Trinity University. Liz lives in Hebden Bridge with her husband and two daughters. She used to be Centre Director at the Ted Hughes Arvon Centre, and previously worked in children’s book publishing.
Peadar O'Guilin
Peadar O’Guilin is a powerful and original new voice in fiction, but has been writing curious stories for as long as he can remember. He attended the same boarding school as James Joyce in Co. Kildare and since then, he has written plays, published short stories, and performed as a stand-up comedian.
Language, landscape and the history of ancient Ireland are important themes for Peadar, and after brief forays living in Milan and Venice he returned to his native Ireland and now lives just outside Dublin.
Jeremy de Quidt
Jeremy de Quidt lives in Somerset with his wife and three children. He is the author of the acclaimed books The Toymaker and The Feathered Man.
Mark Price
MARK PRICE joined the John Lewis Partnership in 1982. He spent 17 years on the board of Waitrose, becoming Managing Director in 2007, holding this post until 2016. He was also Deputy Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership from 2013.
Mark was appointed Chairman of Business in the Community in 2011 and Chairman of the Prince’s Countryside Fund in 2010. In 2016, he was made Minister of State for Trade and Investment and a life peer. Mark will publish a number of books for children and adults during 2016 and beyond.
Lisa Murphy
Canadian comics colourist, based in Glasgow. Maple syrup addict. Secret talent: blowing bubbles off my tongue.