Whistling in the Dark

Shirley Hughes (1927– 2022) was a much-loved, award-winning and bestselling English author and illustrator. She wrote more than 50 books, which have sold more than 11.5 million copies, and illustrated more than 200 books. She won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice. She was awarded both the prestigious Eleanor Farjeon Award in 1984 and the Booktrust Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, both recognising her outstanding contribution to children's books. In 2007, her book Dogger was voted the UK's favourite Kate Greenaway Medal–winning book of all time. Hughes was recognised twice in the Queen's Birthday Honours List: with an OBE in 1999 and a CBE in 2017, both for her distinguished service to children's literature.

Katy Sobey trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has since worked in theatre, television, radio and audio. Theatre credits include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Woodlanders and King John. On television Katy featured in BBC One's The Indian Doctor. For BBC Radio 4, she has appeared in several radio plays and various episodes of Poetry Please. Katy has also recorded numerous audiobooks, including the Isadora Moon series and a number of novels by Fiona McIntosh and Sheila Newberry.