Winter Magic

Abi Elphinstone grew up in Scotland where she spent most of her childhood running wild across the moors, hiding in tree houses and building dens in the woods. After being coaxed out of her tree house, she studied English at Bristol University and then worked as an English teacher in Tanzania, Berkshire and London. She is the bestselling author of the Ember Spark series, Sky Song, Saving Neverland, The Unmapped Chronicles, The Dreamsnatcher trilogy and, for younger readers, The Snow Dragon and The Frost Goblin. When she's not writing, Abi works as a trustee for The Lamp of Lothian, speaks in schools about the transformative power of reading and writing and travels the world looking for her next story. Her latest adventures include living with the Kazakh Eagle Hunters in Mongolia and dog-sledding across the Arctic.

Online links:
Website: www.abielphinstone.com
Twitter: @moontrug
Facebook: www.facebook.com/abielphinstone
Instagram: @moontrugger


Amy Alward is a Canadian author and freelance editor who divides her time between the UK and Canada. In 2013, she was listed as one of The Bookseller's Rising Stars. Her debut fantasy adventure novel, The Oathbreaker's Shadow, was published in 2013 under the name Amy McCulloch and was longlisted for the 2014 Branford Boase Award for best UK debut children's book. Her first book written as Amy Alward, The Potion Diaries, was an international success and the second novel in the series, The Potion Diaries: Royal Tour will be published in August 2016. She is currently travelling the world, researching more extraordinary settings and intriguing potions for the third book in the series. She lives life in a continual search for adventure, coffee, and really great books. Visit her at AmyAlward.co.uk or on Twitter @Amy_Alward.

Emma Carroll is the multi award-winning author of many bestselling historical stories, including Secrets of a Sun King, Letters from the Lighthouse, The Week at World's End and A Night at the Frost Fair. With a background as an English teacher, her stories are often magical, and always led by a cast of impressive female characters. She lives in the Somerset hills with her husband and two talkative terriers.


Michelle Harrison lives in Essex and has a son, Jack, and three cats: Marmite, Sorsha and Widdershins. Her first novel, The Thirteen Treasures, won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and was followed by The Thirteen Curses and The Thirteen Secrets. Michelle has since written One Wish, a prequel to The Thirteen Treasures books; The Other Alice, which won the Calderdale Book of the Year Award; and the bestselling Pinch of Magic Adventures: A Pinch of Magic, A Sprinkle of Sorcery, A Tangle of Spells, and A Storm of Sisters.

Geraldine McCaughrean is an award-winning author who has written more than 130 books and plays for children and adults. She recently won the Whitbread Children's Book Award for the third time with Not the End of the World, and her other awards include the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Fiction Award, and the Smarties Bronze Award. She lives in Berkshire, England. Visit www.geraldinemccaughrean.co.uk.

Lauren St John was born in Gatooma, Rhodesia, now Kadoma, Zimbabwe, in December 1966. After studying journalism in Africa, she moved to London, where she was for many years golf correspondent to The Sunday Times. She is the author of several books on sports, the biography Hardcore Troubadour: The Life and Near Death of Steve Earle, and one children's novel, The White Giraffe.