Tim Bowler - winner in 2008 with Frozen Fire

I live in the south-west of England in a sleepy Devon village. It's a beautiful county and I've lived there since 1983. My workroom is an old stone outhouse ten minutes' walk from my home. It's situated in a quiet part of the village with nothing to hear but birdsong and the occasional snort of horses in some stables. When the weather's fine, I take my laptop out of the bolthole and into a nearby meadow so that I can sit and write outside. It's a lovely spot with hills rolling away into the distance, a badger sett down to the left and the tower of the village church just visible to the right. There are lots of foxes, rabbits and birds and sometimes you can see wild deer on the far slopes. It's a great place to think and write.

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Taken from http://www.timbowler.co.uk/

Kate Cann - winner 2007 with Leaving Poppy

Kate studied English and American Literature at Kent University, and went on to work as a copy editor and writer. She decided to go as a freelance editor whilst looking after her two children, who are now teenagers themselves. Kate writes for about 3 to 4 hours a day. She loves her word processor, and the potential that it gives her in her books. Apart from writing, she enjoys reading running, long walks, long conversations and English pubs. She lives in Twickenham right by the River Thames, with her husband, daughter, son, cat and a semi-trained beagle called Scully.

Kate has written several books for teenagers, including two sets of teenage trilogies. Her latest book is Fire and Rayne, the sequel to Possessing Rayne.

Taken from http://www.katecann.com/

Michelle Paver - winner 2006 with Wolf Brother

Michelle was born in Malawi to a Belgian mother and a father, moving to the UK when she was three. She was brought up in Wimbledon and, following a Biochemistry Degree from Oxford, she became a partner in a big City law firm. She left the City to follow her dream of becoming a writer. Following success as an adult author, Michelle began writing for young people.

Wolf Brother is the first book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series. The sixth book in this series, Ghost Hunter, was published in August.

Taken from http://www.michellepaver.com/

Michael Morpurgo - winner 2005 with Private Peaceful

Michael Morpurgo was born in 1943. He attended schools in London, Sussex and Canterbury before going to London University to study English and French. He worked as a primary school teacher before becoming a children’s author. In 1976 Michael and his wife started the charity Farms for City Children  which aims to relieve the poverty of experience of young children from inner city and urban areas by providing them with a week in which they work actively and purposefully on farms in the heart of the countryside. They now have three farms – Nethercott in Devon, Treginnis in Wales and Wick in Gloucestershire. Michael lives in Devon, spending about half his life mucking out sheds with the children, feeding sheep or milking cows; the other half he spends dreaming up and writing stories.

Michael was  the Children’s Laureate 2003-2005.

Taken from http://www.michaelmorpurgo.org/

Eleanor Updale - winner 2004 with Montmorency

Eleanor grew up and went to school in Camberwell in South London, before going to Oxford University to study History. After that Eleanor joined the BBC, working on TV and radio programmes from 1975 to 1990. She left her job to look after her three children and by 2002 was back studying History at the University of London.

Her first book, Montmorency, came out in the UK in 2003, Montmorency on the Rocks in 2004, Montmorency and the Assassins in 2005 and the fourth book,  Montmorency’s Revenge, in 2006.

Taken from http://www.eleanorupdale.co.uk/