Reading Champion: Orange Reading Band 6

A.H. Benjamin is an established children's author with 30 titles to his credit. His books have sold worldwide with more than 20 translations, including Chinese, Korean, Turkish and Arabic. Some of his work has been adapted for radio, television and theatre. He's married with four grown up children and four young grandchildren who have all been his inspiration for writing. He lives in Lincolnshire with wife, Trisha. His hobbies are reading, writing, walking and playing the playstation 2 (but only football!). When he was a little boy he dreamt of being a cowboy... He still does!

Katie Dale had her first poem 'The Fate of The School Hamster' published in The Cadbury's Book of Children's Poetry, aged 8 and hasn't stopped writing since. On graduating, she went travelling through South-East Asia - only to discover whilst in a Vietnam internet cafe that she was a winner of the SCBWI 2008 Undiscovered Voices competition.

Jenny Jinks comes from a family of writers - her sister, Katie Dale and her mum, Elizabeth Dale, have penned many children's books between them and now Jenny has joined them!

Penny Dolan is a children's writer and storyteller living in North Yorkshire. She is a popular speaker with both infant and junior children, and has visited many School Book Weeks and literacy events across the UK, with her enjoyable 'Author Talks' and lively story-telling sessions. She has also spoken and performed in libraries, bookshops, museums, art galleries, historic sites and outdoor locations, and has appeared on the children's programme of several literature festivals. She has a wide interest in children's books and has been Chair of the Federation of Children's Book Groups. Penny has a wide experience of schools. She was a primary advisory teacher for English and Drama but has been a freelance language arts worker for several years. She has also taught on residential writing courses for children, tutored both storytelling and writing courses for adults, and spoken at conferences. Penny has a degree in Education, specialising in Language and Literacy and an Advanced Diploma in Educational Drama. As well as working on her writing, Penny enjoys drawing, painting, reading, chatting and daydreaming. Her favourite colour is yellow. Her favourite food is strawberries-and-cream, and she is probably the world's slowest swimmer. She has three untidy desks, two grown-up children and one rather bad cat.

Elizabeth Dale always dreamed of being a writer but somehow got side-tracked into studying for a physics degree, followed by health service management. When her children were born she finally returned to her dream, writing thousands of short stories for magazines all over the world. Re-discovering a love of children's books while reading to her daughters, she decided to turn her hand to writing them - and has now published over twenty books for children, including picture books and junior fiction. Writing is her full-time job, but also her favourite activity. She also enjoys reading, gardening, walking, and being in the country. Her favourite children's books include Walk Two Moons, The Selfish Giant, Cosmic, and Someone Else's Life. She loves watching cosy sentimental films, such as You've Got Mail, Return to Me, and While You Were Sleeping, as well as classic old films starring Cary Grant, Fred Astaire and Doris Day. Elizabeth is married, with three daughters, and lives in a village in West Sussex. Her daughters, Katie and Jenny, are also children's authors with Hachette.

Damian Harvey lives in North Wales with his lovely wife, Vicky. He has three wonderful daughters, one brilliant boy and a cat called Polly. He has written more than 130 books for primary school aged children and is busy writing more. When he isn't writing, Damian loves visiting schools, libraries, bookshops, festivals and anywhere that will have him, where he shares stories, talks about writing and gets people excited about books and reading. You can find out more about Damian by visiting http://www.damianharvey.co.uk and follow him on Twitter @damianjharvey

Lynne Benton was born in Bournemouth, but moved to Bath at 18 to train as a teacher, and has lived there ever since. She has taught in several primary schools in the area, as well as working as pianist and receptionist in a dancing school and bringing up four children. In 1982 she and her husband, Robin, a fellow-teacher and composer, co-wrote a musical play for primary schools based on the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece (still, happily, in print) but it was only when their children began leaving home for university that she began writing seriously. In 1996 she was a prizewinner in the Independent's Children's Story of the Year competition, and since then has had several fiction books published. As well as writing longer novels for older children she enjoys writing humorous "bite-size" stories for younger ones. She welcomes invitations to go into schools and talk to children about her books, since it keeps her in touch with her readers, who she finds a continual source of inspiration.

Katie Woolley is a creative and versatile editor and writer who has worked on children's books for all age levels, from board books, novelty books and picture books to non fiction, licensed publishing and educational books and apps. Katie has more than 10 years' publishing experience; she has written, commissioned, edited and project managed a variety of titles for some of the biggest children's publishers, such as Ladybird Books and Hachette Children's Books.

Jackie Walter has written and edited many books for children. She never gets tired of listening to and telling a good story. Jackie lives in Cornwall with her husband and young daughters.

Sue Graves has been a freelance children's author for more than 17 years. She has written over two hundred books for children from pre-school up to 15+ years. She writes fiction and non-fiction, plays and poetry across the age ranges. Sue loves reading all sorts of books and is at her happiest when she has a book in her hand. She also loves painting in watercolours, playing tennis and badminton and going for long walks in the country with her husband and children.

Sarah Snashall is an experienced professional writer, and has written many books on a wide range of topics.

Amelia Marshall is an avid reader and writer of children's books. She has worked in primary education and publishing for over 10 years. As well as specialising in fairy tale twists and retellings she loves to write playful rhymes. As a parent of a toddler son, she saw an opportunity to create a unique rhyming picture book set combining photographic and illustrative elements and came up with four books in Digger and Friends (Digger's Busy Day, Tractor's FarmYard Fun, Big Truck's Road Adventure & Emergency! Emergency!).

Mary Auld is a writer of children's information books, working over a broad range of subjects. She has been actively involved in music from an early age, both singing and playing the flute, on an amateur basis. She loves making music in a group, be that in an orchestra or a choir. Whether making music or writing children's books, her aim is to share her enthusiasm and inspire readers. Mary Auld is a pen name for Rachel Cooke, who is an honorary fellow of the English Association, in recognition of her editorial work in children's non-fiction.

A native of New England, Jeff Harding has appeared in television productions as varied as HOWARD'S END, THE FAST SHOW, FATHER TED and NCS MANHUNT. He has recorded many audiobooks, including Orion's THE LAST TEMPLAR, ROBERT LUDLUM'S BOURNE TROLOGY and the best-selling Dan Brown's THE DA VINCI CODE.