Vivian is a writer of both books and plays; she has written more than 250 children's books, including the very successful Tiara Club series, and is consistently one of the top 30 most borrowed authors from UK libraries. She has had plays performed both in London and throughout Scotland; her audiences include young adults as well as children. She has won many awards for her books, and is regularly invited to festivals including Cheltenham and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
(2012 Guest selector for the children's programme.) Vivian teaches part time at Edinburgh College of Art, and is one of the two founding members of the PictureHooks programme supporting Scottish illustrators. She is married with four grown up daughters and three grandchildren, and lives in Edinburgh. She'd like a cat, but lives up 66 steps and has no garden ... maybe one day. Her favourite book is an empty notebook.
Since 1990, Vivian French has published more than 100 books for children of all ages. She has been a reviewer and has worked in the theatre - she is also well-known as a playwright. Among her most popular books are the Tiara Club titles for Hachette. Married with four grown-up daughters, she now lives in Edinburgh. Visit her website at www.vivianfrench.com.
David Melling has been shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal, the Smarties Book Award and the Independent Booksellers Award.
His Hugless Douglas books have sold over 2 million copies worldwide, and the loveable brown bear has starred in a World Book Day book as well as his own theatre show. Before becoming an internationally acclaimed author-illustrator, David worked as an animation artist for films including the much-loved Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs. One of his most popular picture books The Tale of Jack Frost was animated and shown on BBC1 on Christmas Day.
