Who wrote it?

Gillian Cross was born in 1945 in London and attended the University of Sussex. Gillian met her husband at university and they married in 1967 and have 4 children. They settled in a small beautiful village in Warwickshire where she does her writing.

Gillian has won several literary prizes for her writing including:

WOLF - Library Association's Carnegie Medal 1990

The Great Elephant Chase - Whitbread Children's Novel Award 1992

The Great Elephant Chase - Smarties Prize Overall Winner 1992

What's it about?

The British economy has collapsed, money is worthless and no one is safe. Matt and his little brother flee to France for safety; their mother said it would be safe on the other side. She was wrong.

When they get there life isn't much better. What will happen to Matt and his brother? How will they survive? Will they survive?...

Fact File

Gillian has travelled to Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Brazil and Australia to talk about her books.

Gillian is a keen orienteer (finding your way through forests with a map) and plays the piano (badly)

One of her favourite books is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Gillian once had her face stroked by an elephant's trunk!

Visit Gillian's website at http://www.gillian-cross.co.uk/.

Who wrote it?

Tim Lott wrote his first book aged 40.

Tim writes for adults, children and newspapers, including a weekly article in the Guardian’s Family section.

Tim’s first book, a non-fiction book about his mother, won the J. R. Ackerley Prize in 1996.

He lives in London and has a wife and 4 grown up children, all daughters.

What's it about?

Strato Nyman couldn't be more of an odd-one-out. He's the only black kid in Hedgecombe-upon-Dray, he knows more about particle physics than his teacher, and he's constantly picked on by school bully Lloyd Archibald Turnbull. It's only at home that he blends in to the background - his parents are too busy arguing to notice he exists. But one day, Strato picks up a dusty old book in a mysterious bookshop and learns how to become invisible. He soon discovers that people aren't always what they seem and realizes standing out isn't so bad after all.

Fact File

One of Tim’s heroes is Joni Mitchell, a Canadian singer songwriter.

Tim uses the film website Rotten Tomatoes to decide if films are worth watching.

Tim wrote an article in the Observer newspaper called "Don’t Make Children Eat Their Greens" arguing that there is no need to force children to eat vegetables.

You can follow Tim on Twitter (@timlottwriter)

Who wrote it?

Fletcher Moss is not the author’s real name. He works as an assistant head teacher at a school in Greater Manchester and wanted to keep his real name secret. Before he became a teacher he tried being a shelf-stacker and a van driver in France and Spain.

Because he has a full time job Fletcher had to be very disciplined with his writing and he completed The Poison Boy by writing 1500 words every Sunday for a year.

He lives in Manchester with his wife and young daughter and is currently working on a sequel.

What's it about?

The Poison Boy is Dalton Fly, a lowly food taster to the rich, who has a lucky escape after drinking poison-laced wine. But his mate is less fortunate, and Dalton wants answers. Who murdered his friend, and what were they really after?

With the help of his friend Sal Sleepwell and the aristocratic Scarlet Dropmore, whose life he unwittingly saved, he sets out to rescue his city from the poisoners within.

Fact File

When he was choosing a name to use he decided to name himself after a park near where he lives.

Fletcher Moss won the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition 2012, with The Poison Boy.

The Poison Boy was originally called Sleepwell and Fly.

The inspiration for the book came from a visit to the poison garden at Alnwick castle.

You can read more about Fletcher on his blog: http://sleepwellandfly.blogspot.co.uk/

Who wrote it?

Paula Rawstone was born in Liverpool and now lives in Nottingham with her husband and three kids.

Paula worked as a hospital social worker and has taught secondary school children in the Sudan and Israel. She gave up work to be a full time mum and that was when she started writing.

Paula was first noticed when she won the BBC Get Writing competition with her story Sermon on the Mount. The story was read out on Radio 4 by Bill Nighy.

Paula feels that she is drawn to write books about people who are often invisible in society, influenced by the kind of work that she had chosen to do.

What's it about?

Gina is a runner. With her feet pounding the ground and her dad watching, she feels as though she can fly. But when her dad dies in dramatic circumstances, Gina refuses to accept the explanations she is given. Struggling to find the truth, Gina finds herself plunged into a world far removed from the one she has known: a world of lies, crime and betrayal. A world that will make her question everyone and everything around her, and a world she can’t run from

Fact File

Paula started reading Ladybird books full of vivid pictures and fantastic, often quite disturbing, fairytales. She enjoyed reading The Famous Five books, Agatha Christie and Dickens. One of Paularsquo;s favorite books is Millions by Frank Cotterell Boyce.

Paula also enjoys Wild Swimming.

For more information about Paula visit her website: http://paularawsthorne.wordpress.com.

Who wrote it?

Holly Smale is a debut author. Clumsy, a bit geeky and somewhat shy, she spent the majority of her teenage years hiding in the changing room toilets. She was unexpectedly spotted by a top London modelling agency at the age of fifteen and spent the following two years falling over on catwalks, going bright red and breaking things she couldn’t afford to replace.

By the time Holly had graduated from Bristol University with a BA in English Literature and an MA in Shakespeare she had given up modelling and set herself on the path to becoming a writer. Holly is now a fully-fledged author and blogger and is currently writing the sequel to Geek Girl.

What's it about?

“My name is Harriet Manners, and I am a geek.”

Harriet Manners knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a “jiffy” lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. She knows that bats always turn left when exiting a cave and that peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

But she doesn’t know why nobody at school seems to like her.

So when Harriet is spotted by a top model agent, she grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her best friend's dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of impossibly handsome model Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.

Veering from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, Harriet begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did.

As her old life starts to fall apart, will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?

Fact File

Holly lives with a very chatty but totally imaginary cat.

She has a passion for travel, adventure and wearing no shoes which has led her all over the world: she has visited 21 countries, spent two years working as an English teacher in Japan, volunteered in Nepal, been bartered for in Jamaica and had a number of ear-plugs stolen in Australia, Indonesia and India.

You can follow Holly on Twitter (@HolSmale) or visit her website: www.hollysmale.com