SF Said's debut novel, Varjak Paw, won the Nestlé Smarties Prize. The sequel, The Outlaw Varjak Paw, won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. SF's 2013 novel, Phoenix, was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and selected for the 2016 IBBY Honour List. In addition to winning multiple prizes for his own work, SF has judged major UK book awards, including the Costa Book Awards, BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award and Amnesty/CILIP Honour award. He is a dedicated champion of reading for pleasure, and writes passionately about children's books and all things connected to them.

Dave McKean is an illustrator, artist, graphic designer, photographer, filmmaker and musician. He has illustrated all of SF Said's novels, as well as books by David Almond and Neil Gaiman. Dave directed a feature film based on one of his picture books with David Almond, which was produced by Jim Henson Studios and starred Rob Brydon. Dave was a concept artist for two Harry Potter films, and also directed The Gospel of Us: a film of a National Theatre Wales play starring Michael Sheen. He lives in Kent with his wife.