Vivian French began writing books for children after a career as an actor, playwright, and storyteller. Her first books for children were published in 1990, and she has since written
more than 250 books. She is an editorial consultant, reviewer and anthologist, and a tutor in the illustration department at Edinburgh College of Art. She is a co-founder
of Picture Hooks, a project/mentoring scheme for graduate Scottish illustrators. Vivian is among the most borrowed authors in UK libraries - her books are regularly borrowed more than half a million times a year.

Jonathan Meres is a former paper boy, merchant seaman, ice-cream van driver, hand model, pop video extra, actor, voice-over artist, failed rock star and Perrier nominated stand-up comedian, turned million-selling children’s author. Best known for his award-winning, World of Norm series (Orchard Books/Hachette), which has currently been translated into more than 20 languages, worldwide, as well as being optioned for TV, Jonathan has written many other books besides, for publishers including Harper Collins, Macmillan, Bloomsbury, and Barrington Stoke. He lives in Edinburgh, where he enjoys being cynical and talking to his dog, Pablo.

Alan Windram is an award-winning author and writer of the hugely popular series of One Button Benny picture books and, A Puppy’s Tale, also illustrated by Chloe Holwill-Hunter. One Button Benny, their second book together won the Bookbug Picture Book Prize in 2019.

Alan is on the road for much of the year taking part in book festivals, school and library events. He loves meeting the children, telling stories, singing songs and doing some ‘robot dancing’. Alan is an accomplished singer-songwriter with four independent albums of original songs under his belt. He has toured extensively with some of Scotland's top musical artists. Alan lives in Argyll and Bute with his wife and two cats Sparkie and George.

Alan is also the director and co-founder of our very own award-winning Little Door Books.

Chae Strathie is an award-winning children’s author and journalist who lives in the vibrant city of Dundee. He has written 24 books for children, from picture books to young fiction and non-fiction, and has won the Bookbug Children’s Book Award twice. He is also the winner of several other picture book awards, from Sussex to Dundee. His most recent work includes a historical non-fiction series called So You Think You’ve Got It Bad with the British Museum. Chae is renowned for his high-energy, zany live shows that combine reading with music, dance, puppetry, and comedy, and have captivated audiences in schools as far afield as Romania, and at major book festivals such as Edinburgh, Hay, Wigtown, Borders and Aye Write.

Barry Hutchison is an award-winning children's author and screenwriter, currently hiding up a mountain in the Highlands of Scotland. Since landing his first children's book publishing deal in 2008, Barry has toured extensively around UK schools, sharing his love of reading and stories about weeing in the kitchen sink with pupils of all ages. He has a passion for encouraging reluctant boys to pick up a book. A lifelong fan of funny books, Barry loves making readers laugh with his unique brand of comedy. He lives with his wife, Fiona, and his children, Kyle and Mia, none of whom appreciate his jokes in the slightest.

Barry also writes highly successful crime fiction books for adults under the name, JD Kirk.

Colin MacIntyre is an award-winning musician, producer and author, who has written and produced eight acclaimed albums to date, most notably under the name Mull Historical Society. His debut novel, The Letters of Ivor Punch, won the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award. He has been voted Scotland's Top Creative Talent and has toured worldwide, including with The Strokes, Elbow and REM. Born into a family of writers and storytellers, Colin is a descendant of the Gaelic warrior-poet, Duncan Ban MacIntyre. He grew up on the isle of Mull in the Hebrides but now lives in London with his family.

Emily Dodd loves science and wildlife. She is the author of picture books and non-fiction science books, a screenwriter for CBeebies and a writer of BBC radio plays for children. Emily spent several years working in museum education and has written science shows, workshops and stories for the Scottish Seabird Centre, Edinburgh International Science Festival, the National Museums Scotland and Our Dynamic Earth. Emily was the 2012/2013 Scottish Book Trust Reader in Residence at Leith Library. She once performed a poem about puffins to the Queen. Emily lives on the Outer Hebrides.

Sara Sheridan is an Edinburgh-based novelist who writes cosy crime noir mysteries set in 1950s Brighton and historical novels based on the real-life stories of late Georgian and early Victorian explorers. Sara has written twenty best selling books - all adult fiction - and one picture book, I’m Me, which has appeared on CBeebies three times. Here she teams up with her daughter, make-up artist and art director Molly Sheridan, to recount one of the stories she made up for Molly when she was a little girl - one of Molly’s favourites. The Sheridans live in Edinburgh and also run a perfume company called REEK.

Pippa Goodhart was a bookseller in Cambridge before becoming a writer. In twenty-five years of writing since then she has had more than a hundred books published, some of them award winning. She is perhaps best known for her You Choose books, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, which have sold well over a million copies, and the Winnie the Witch storybooks which she writes under the pen name of Laura Owen. Pippa does lots of school and festival visits, and also teaches adults who want to write for children via Cambridge University’s ICE courses and Jericho Writers.

Mick Nicholson is an award-winning author and writer based in Edinburgh His Thistle Trilogy of picture books ( Thistle Sands, Thistle Street and Thistle Games) introduce young children to Scots words through fun stories and rhyme. He has also written two mystery adventure novels, and which won the Kelpies Prize. Mike lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two children.

David C. Flanagan is a writer and award-winning journalist based in the Orkney Islands. Born, raised and educated in Edinburgh, he studied journalism in the city before returning to his ancestral home in the islands where he worked as a reporter on the local weekly newspaper, The Orcadian. He’s been freelance since 2002, providing news, features and content for a variety of publications and websites. David also acts as location manager for film and television crews operating in Orkney. His first book, Board, was published by Fledgling Press in 2015 and recounted his hapless attempts to learn to surf in middleage, on the wild Atlantic coast of Orkney. He still surfs, badly, and also loves skateboarding, fitness training and walking in the Scottish mountains. Uncle Pete and the Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep is David’s first story for children, reflecting his passion for adventure stories, his love of animals, and his slightly whacky sense of humour.

Sacha Kyle is an award-winning creator/director/writer and an academically accredited specialist in early childhood development/research and an International Children's Fellow. She has worked as an artistic director all over the world producing theatre productions for the last twenty years and most recently in Television directed for Children’s BBC CBeebies Drama ‘Molly and Mack’ and her own show ‘Hushabye Lullabye’. Exploring lullabies, language, rhythm, composition and counting each book has been designed and created specifically incorporating early child developmental research and learning science. Sacha loves books and being cosy in Glasgow where she lives with her two little cheeky chumbles Sia and Beau.

Vivian French began writing books for children after a career as an actor, playwright, and storyteller. Her first books for children were published in 1990, and she has since written
more than 250 books. She is an editorial consultant, reviewer and anthologist, and a tutor in the illustration department at Edinburgh College of Art. She is a co-founder
of Picture Hooks, a project/mentoring scheme for graduate Scottish illustrators. Vivian is among the most borrowed authors in UK libraries - her books are regularly borrowed more than half a million times a year.

Jonathan Meres is a former paper boy, merchant seaman, ice-cream van driver, hand model, pop video extra, actor, voice-over artist, failed rock star and Perrier nominated stand-up comedian, turned million-selling children’s author. Best known for his award-winning, World of Norm series (Orchard Books/Hachette), which has currently been translated into more than 20 languages, worldwide, as well as being optioned for TV, Jonathan has written many other books besides, for publishers including Harper Collins, Macmillan, Bloomsbury, and Barrington Stoke. He lives in Edinburgh, where he enjoys being cynical and talking to his dog, Pablo.

Alan Windram is an award-winning author and writer of the hugely popular series of One Button Benny picture books and, A Puppy’s Tale, also illustrated by Chloe Holwill-Hunter. One Button Benny, their second book together won the Bookbug Picture Book Prize in 2019.

Alan is on the road for much of the year taking part in book festivals, school and library events. He loves meeting the children, telling stories, singing songs and doing some ‘robot dancing’. Alan is an accomplished singer-songwriter with four independent albums of original songs under his belt. He has toured extensively with some of Scotland's top musical artists. Alan lives in Argyll and Bute with his wife and two cats Sparkie and George.

Alan is also the director and co-founder of our very own award-winning Little Door Books.

Chae Strathie is an award-winning children’s author and journalist who lives in the vibrant city of Dundee. He has written 24 books for children, from picture books to young fiction and non-fiction, and has won the Bookbug Children’s Book Award twice. He is also the winner of several other picture book awards, from Sussex to Dundee. His most recent work includes a historical non-fiction series called So You Think You’ve Got It Bad with the British Museum. Chae is renowned for his high-energy, zany live shows that combine reading with music, dance, puppetry, and comedy, and have captivated audiences in schools as far afield as Romania, and at major book festivals such as Edinburgh, Hay, Wigtown, Borders and Aye Write.

Barry Hutchison is an award-winning children's author and screenwriter, currently hiding up a mountain in the Highlands of Scotland. Since landing his first children's book publishing deal in 2008, Barry has toured extensively around UK schools, sharing his love of reading and stories about weeing in the kitchen sink with pupils of all ages. He has a passion for encouraging reluctant boys to pick up a book. A lifelong fan of funny books, Barry loves making readers laugh with his unique brand of comedy. He lives with his wife, Fiona, and his children, Kyle and Mia, none of whom appreciate his jokes in the slightest.

Barry also writes highly successful crime fiction books for adults under the name, JD Kirk.

Colin MacIntyre is an award-winning musician, producer and author, who has written and produced eight acclaimed albums to date, most notably under the name Mull Historical Society. His debut novel, The Letters of Ivor Punch, won the 2015 Edinburgh International Book Festival First Book Award. He has been voted Scotland's Top Creative Talent and has toured worldwide, including with The Strokes, Elbow and REM. Born into a family of writers and storytellers, Colin is a descendant of the Gaelic warrior-poet, Duncan Ban MacIntyre. He grew up on the isle of Mull in the Hebrides but now lives in London with his family.

Emily Dodd loves science and wildlife. She is the author of picture books and non-fiction science books, a screenwriter for CBeebies and a writer of BBC radio plays for children. Emily spent several years working in museum education and has written science shows, workshops and stories for the Scottish Seabird Centre, Edinburgh International Science Festival, the National Museums Scotland and Our Dynamic Earth. Emily was the 2012/2013 Scottish Book Trust Reader in Residence at Leith Library. She once performed a poem about puffins to the Queen. Emily lives on the Outer Hebrides.

Sara Sheridan is an Edinburgh-based novelist who writes cosy crime noir mysteries set in 1950s Brighton and historical novels based on the real-life stories of late Georgian and early Victorian explorers. Sara has written twenty best selling books - all adult fiction - and one picture book, I’m Me, which has appeared on CBeebies three times. Here she teams up with her daughter, make-up artist and art director Molly Sheridan, to recount one of the stories she made up for Molly when she was a little girl - one of Molly’s favourites. The Sheridans live in Edinburgh and also run a perfume company called REEK.

Pippa Goodhart was a bookseller in Cambridge before becoming a writer. In twenty-five years of writing since then she has had more than a hundred books published, some of them award winning. She is perhaps best known for her You Choose books, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, which have sold well over a million copies, and the Winnie the Witch storybooks which she writes under the pen name of Laura Owen. Pippa does lots of school and festival visits, and also teaches adults who want to write for children via Cambridge University’s ICE courses and Jericho Writers.

Mick Nicholson is an award-winning author and writer based in Edinburgh His Thistle Trilogy of picture books ( Thistle Sands, Thistle Street and Thistle Games) introduce young children to Scots words through fun stories and rhyme. He has also written two mystery adventure novels, and which won the Kelpies Prize. Mike lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two children.

David C. Flanagan is a writer and award-winning journalist based in the Orkney Islands. Born, raised and educated in Edinburgh, he studied journalism in the city before returning to his ancestral home in the islands where he worked as a reporter on the local weekly newspaper, The Orcadian. He’s been freelance since 2002, providing news, features and content for a variety of publications and websites. David also acts as location manager for film and television crews operating in Orkney. His first book, Board, was published by Fledgling Press in 2015 and recounted his hapless attempts to learn to surf in middleage, on the wild Atlantic coast of Orkney. He still surfs, badly, and also loves skateboarding, fitness training and walking in the Scottish mountains. Uncle Pete and the Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep is David’s first story for children, reflecting his passion for adventure stories, his love of animals, and his slightly whacky sense of humour.

Sacha Kyle is an award-winning creator/director/writer and an academically accredited specialist in early childhood development/research and an International Children's Fellow. She has worked as an artistic director all over the world producing theatre productions for the last twenty years and most recently in Television directed for Children’s BBC CBeebies Drama ‘Molly and Mack’ and her own show ‘Hushabye Lullabye’. Exploring lullabies, language, rhythm, composition and counting each book has been designed and created specifically incorporating early child developmental research and learning science. Sacha loves books and being cosy in Glasgow where she lives with her two little cheeky chumbles Sia and Beau.