FRANK COTTRELL BOYCE

Frank Cottrell Boyce, father of seven, is an established British screenwriter whose credits include GOD ON TRIAL, WELCOME TO SARAJEVO, HILARY AND JACKIE and 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE. He lives in Merseyside with his family. Frank’s first book, Millions won the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2004 and was been shortlisted for a number of other awards. Millions has also been made into a movie directed by Danny Boyle.

Frank’s second novel, Framed, followed the success of Millions, also being shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2005.

KEVIN BROOKS

Kevin Brooks is known for writing hard-hitting and uncompromising teen fiction. He exploded onto the literary scene in 2002 with his debut novel, Martyn Pig, which was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His second novel Lucas was shortlisted for two awards. His subsequent novels, including Candy, Kissing the Rain, and Being have all gone on to receive similar acclaim.

EOIN COLFER

Eoin (pronounced ‘Owen’) Colfer was a primary school teacher in Wexford, Ireland up until he secured the largest ever advance for a children’s novel by an unknown author in October 2000. His first novel, Benny and Omar was an instant bestseller in Ireland and even knocked Harry Potter off the number-one slot for bestselling children’s books. Like Artemis Fowl, it was written after a day’s teaching and after his young son’s bedtime. Eoin's bestselling Artemis Fowl series has won numerous awards. Eoin is currently writing And Another Thing the 6th instalment to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series.

SIOBHAN DOWD

Siobhan Dowd passed away in August 2007 after a long fight with breast cancer. Born in London to Irish parents, Siobhan gained a degree in Classics at Oxford University.

While based in New York, she was Programme Director of the Freedom to Write committee, which included founding and leading the Rushdie Defence Committee USA and co-ordinating Salman Rushdie’s visit with President Clinton in 1993.

On her return to the UK, Siobhan co-founded for English writers’ organisation PEN, the Readers & Writers Programme, which takes authors into schools that are often in more deprived areas, as well as prisons, young offender’s institutions and community projects. During 2004, Siobhan was Deputy Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Oxfordshire, working with local government to ensure that statutory services affecting children’s lives conform to UN legislation.

She was nominated for the 2007 CILIP Carnegie Medal for her outstanding debut novel, A Swift Pure Cry. Her second novel, The London Eye Mystery, was published in 2007. A final work, Solace of the Road is to be published in 2009.

Before she passed away, Siobhan established The Siobhan Dowd Trust. The aim of the trust will is to help disadvantaged children improve their skills and experience the joy of reading. It will offer financial support to: public libraries; state school libraries; children in care; asylum seekers; young offenders and children with special needs.

KEITH GRAY

Keith was born and brought up in Grimsby, and as a child tried to avoid books. He says, ‘I was an eager rebel and a particularly enthusiastic pain-in-the-backside, but a reluctant reader. I think everyone was surprised (even me) when I raced through Robert Westall’s The Machine Gunners from cover to cover – twice. This one book made me want to read more and more, eventually making me want to write my own books.’

His first book, Creepers, was published in 1996 when he was only 24. The novel was highly acclaimed and translated into several languages. Keith has now published several teen novels as well as his younger fiction titles. His aim is to write strong, accessible fiction for the sceptical and hard-to-please reader he once was.

Keith lectured for two years in Creative Writing at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside. He now lives in Edinburgh and spends much of his time visiting schools passing on his love of books.

PATRICK NESS

I've only ever really wanted to be a writer and was working on my first novel when I moved to London in 1999. I've lived here ever since. So far, I've published two books for adults, a novel called The Crash of Hennington and a short story collection called Topics About Which I Know Nothing.

Here's a helpful hint if you want to be a writer: When I'm working on a first draft, all I write is 1000 words a day, which isn't that much (I started out with 300 now I can do 1000 easy). And if I write my 1000 words, I'm done for the day, even if it only took an hour (it usually takes more, of course, but not always). Novels are anywhere from 60,000 words on up, so it's possible that just sixty days later you might have a whole first draft.

The Knife of Never Letting Go is 112,900 words and took about seven months to get a good first draft. Lots of rewrites followed. That's the fun part, where the book really starts to come together just exactly how you see it, the part where you feel like a real writer.

KATE THOMPSON

Kate Thompson made a dazzling debut on the literary scene in late 1997. Within weeks, Kate went from being an unpublished author to receiving acclaim for two novels – one for children, called Switchers, and one for adults.

Originally from Yorkshire, Kate moved to Ireland in 1981. There are overtones of Irish folk tales in Switchers, especially in the theme of shape changers, and Kinvara, a tiny village on the west coast of Ireland where Kate now lives.

Growing up, Kate always wanted to play the violin but didn’t have the patience to practise scale and exercises. A few years ago she found a way to learn that suited her temperament. She joined the Flying Fiddles, a group of adult learners and was soon practicing eight or ten hours a day, trying to catch up. She has also recently completed an MA in Irish Traditional Music Performance at the University of Limerick.

As well as her work for children, Kate has published three novels for adults and a volume of poetry.