Rumer Godden was one of the UK's most distinguished authors. She wrote many well-known and much-loved books for adults and children, including Black Narcissus and The Greengage Summer. Her children's novel The Diddakoi won the Whitbread Children's Book Award in 1972. She was awarded the OBE in 1993 and died in 1998, aged ninety.

Jane Ray lives in North London and has illustrated many books for children. She has been shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Award six times, and won the Smarties Award for her book The Story of Creation.