Julia Donaldson is the outrageously talented, prize-winning author of the world's best-loved picture books. She was the UK Children's Laureate 2011-13 and has been honoured with a CBE for Services to Literature. Her books include The Paper Dolls, the bestselling What the Ladybird Heard and the modern classic The Gruffalo, which has sold over 13.5 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over sixty languages. Julia also writes fiction as well as poems, plays and songs and her brilliant live children's shows are always in demand. Julia and her husband Malcolm divide their time between Sussex and Edinburgh.

Karen George has always loved drawing and painting and as a child it was her absolute favourite thing to do. A graduate of The Royal College of Art, Karen used to paint sets for films but turned her creative attentions to picture book illustration after becoming mum to her two young sons. In 2009 Karen won the inaugural Waterstones' Picture This competition and illustrated Julia Donaldson's story, Freddie and the Fairy. She now writes her own stories as well as illustrating, and lives in Bristol with her family and Dr Calamari the cat.