Michael Morpurgo is one of Britain's best-loved children's book writers. He has written more than 100 books and has won the Smarties Prize, the Whitbread Award, and most recently the Blue Peter Book Award for Private Peaceful. He is also the author of War Horse, which has been made into a Tony Award-winning Broadway play and a Golden Globe-nominated film. Michael was Writer in Residence at The Savoy Hotel from January to March 2007, and previously he was Children's Laureate from 2003-2005, a role that took him across Britain to inspire a love of reading in children. Visit him online at www.michaelmorpurgo.com. Polly Dunbar (born 1977) is an English author-illustrator. She is best known for her self-illustrated books Penguin, the Tilly and Friends series (which became a BBC children's television series) and Hello, Mum - an illustrated memoir of motherhood and her first book for adults. She lives in Waveny Valley, Suffolk with her partner and their two sons.