Axel Scheffler

Axel Scheffler was born in Hamburg, Germany. He studied History of Art, before moving to the United Kingdom to study illustration at Bath Academy of Art in 1982. Since then he has worked as a freelance illustrator in London. He is best known for the children’s books he has illustrated through his partnership with author Julia Donaldson. Together they created The Gruffalo, which has sold over 13 million copies, in over 70 languages. He lives in London.

Read an interview with Axel Scheffler here

Chris Riddell

Chris Riddell is the creator of a wide range of books which have won many illustration awards including the UNESCO Prize, the Greenaway Medal (twice) and the Hay Festival Medal for Illustration. In 2015 he was appointed Children’s Laureate.

Joel Stewart

Prize-winning illustrator Joel Stewart is known internationally for his Dexley Bexley picture books. He has also illustrated the words of Julia Donaldson, Carol Ann Duffy and Michael Rosen among others. He is the creator/director of the hit children’s animation series The Adventures of Abney & Teal as well as being a musician, collecting and playing increasingly odd instruments. Visit his blog www.joel-stewart.blogspot.co.uk

Alban Berg

Alban Maria Johannes Berg (1885–1935) was an Austrian composer. He is best known for his opera Wozzeck, which is seen as one of the century’s most important works.

Emily Brontë

Emily Brontë (1818–48) was the middle of the three famous Brontë sisters. Raised on the Yorkshire moors by her clergyman father, Emily spent her childhood inventing and writing about imaginary worlds with her siblings. Wuthering Heights was her only novel, for which she enjoyed much fame in her lifetime. She died of tuberculosis in 1848, after having refused all medical treatment.

Peter Benson

Peter Benson’s first novel, The Levels, won the Guardian Fiction Prize. This was followed by A Lesser Dependency, winner of the Encore Award, and The Other Occupant, which was awarded the Somerset Maugham Award. Peter Benson has also published short stories, volumes of poetry and screenplays, some adapted for TV and radio. His works have been translated into many languages.

Read an interview with Peter Benson here

Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) is one of Italy’s most celebrated opera composers. His best-known operas include Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata and Aida.

Alexander Trocchi

Alexander Trocchi (1925–84) left Glasgow University with the honours of a brilliant philosophy scholar. In Paris, he founded Merlin – the outstanding literary magazine – wrote novels for Olympia Press, experimented with heroin and became hooked. He is best known for Cain’s Book and Young Adam.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Goethe (1749–1832) was one of the greatest German writers and the leader of the Weimar Classicism movement. Most famous for his seminal poetic drama, Faust, and his novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, Goethe was also a poet, theologian, philosopher and scientist – one of the world’s last great polymaths.

N.M. Kelby

N.M. Kelby worked as a journalist, editor and educator before turning her hand to fiction. She is the critically acclaimed author of In the Company of Angels, Whale Season and the Florida Book Award-winner A Travel Guide for Reckless Hearts. Her books have been translated into several languages.

Read an interview with N.M. Kelby here