Martin Alexander's poetry collection, Clearing Ground, won him the RTHK/SCMP Short Story Competition in 1999 and publication in Dimsum, OutLoud Anthology, Poetry Live! and Al Akhbar. He has been featured at literary festivals in Hong Kong, Singapore, Guangzhou and even Cairo.
Philip Ardagh has written more than 70 children's books, and the BBC's first truly interactive radio series. He collaborated with Paul McCartney on a children's book. He is best known for his series of Eddie Dickens books now published in more than 30 languages. He has also written non-fiction books such as Why Are Castles Castle-Shaped? and Did Dinosaurs Really Snore?
Andrew Barker, who lives and works in Hong Kong, holds a degree in English literature, a Master of Arts in Anglo-Irish literature and a PhD in American Literature. He has been published in journals and anthologies in Asia.
Priya Basil grew up in Uganda and Kenya and was schooled in Britain until her parents were banished from Uganda under the Idi Amin regime, necessitating her return to Africa. The Bristol University graduate authored the acclaimed novel Ishq and Mushq, published in 2007 by Random House Australia. She performed at the Edinburgh Debut Author's Festival and has read at literary events throughout Europe. She lives in Berlin.
Marina Benjamin has worked as a journalist for 15 years at the New Statesman and the Evening Standard, and written columns for the Daily Express and for Scotland on Sunday. Her book Rocket Dreams, exploring pop culture's booming search for extra-terrestrial intelligence after America's leap toward space, was shortlisted for the Eugene Emme Literature Award. Her latest work is Last Days in Babylon: The Story of the Jews of Baghdad.
Fatima Bhutto published a volume of poetry entitled Whispers of the Desert when she was 15. A Columbia University graduate and master of South Asian Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, she also wrote 8:50 AM October 8, 2005 (Stories of Hope and Courage from the Earthquake in Pakistan) to raise money for child survivors of the disaster and contributes to Pakistan's largest Urdu newspaper, Jang, and its English sister paper, The News. She has also written diaries from Tehran, and from Lebanon during the 2006 summer war for both papers.
Sarah Brennan, author of A Dirty Story and An Even Dirtier Story, has written another entertaining story for 5- to 10-year olds about greed, bad upbringing and the transformative power of love - The Tale of Chester Choi. The protagonist is a dragon who eats children, but deep inside what he really wants is a friend. It's illustrated by South China Morning Post cartoonist Harry Harrison.