Nicola Davies is an award-winning author, whose many books for children include Ice Bear, Big Blue Whale, Extreme Animals, Gaia Warriors and the Silver Street Farm series. She graduated in zoology, studied whales and bats and then worked for the BBC Natural History Unit. Nicola lives in Abergavenny, Wales. Mark Hearld, a breathtaking new talent in children's books, is a distinguished artist and printmaker. He studied illustration at Glasgow School of Art and Natural History Illustration at the Royal College. He now teaches at art colleges in Hull and Edinburgh and has recently designed a range of bags and stationary for the Tate. Inspired by the natural world, especially by animals, Mark makes prints, paintings and collages, as well as textiles and ceramics. Mark lives in York.