Michael G. R. Tolkien is a freelance lecturer, writer and workshop organiser. Michael has published various poetry collections and his verse and reviews have appeared in many magazines including Acumen, Ambit, Envoi and Poetry Nottingham. Michael's latest collection entitled No Time for Roses was published by Poetry Salzburg, and his children's story WISH which is written in verse and narrated by Gerald Dickens, is available as an audio book.

Kevin Joslin wrote the hilarious Janet & John scripts for the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show 'Wake up to Wogan' for many years. The stories were based around the misadventures of John Marsh, a BBC Radio 2 Newsreader. Kevin also runs the website - www.togs.org . The Janet & John stories were published by Headline in 2009 as a collection called See John Run , with more stories aptly called Run John Run planned for publication later this year. Kevin also published a humorous collection of horoscropes called 12 Good Reasons to Look Up Uranus in 2010.

Brenda Parker lives in Yeovil in Somerset and worked as a Production Assistant with a London ITV company, which provided close involvement with script-writing and creative thought, before marriage and a second career in catering took over. Her first work of historical fiction is entitled The Cilento Dove and her second novel Anya Paris will by published and on bookshelves later this year.

Bill Coles studied at Eton before reading Theology at Bristol University. He has been a journalist since 1988, training on the Cambridge Evening News before joining The Sun in 1994. Since 2001, Bill has been freelancing in Edinburgh. His debut novel The Well-Tempered Clavier was published in 2007. Click Here for a two-minute video about this novel. Lord Lucan: My Story was published in 2009, followed by David Cameron's School Days and the literary acclaimed Mr. Two Bomb in 2010.  His latest spovel or "spoof novel" entitled Simon Cowell: The Sex-factor was published in April 2011.

Christine Fenge was brought up in Zambia, but came to England and married before returning to Africa, with her family, to teach in Zimbabwe and Kenya. However, political unrest affected them and they settled permanently in England in 1991. Since then, Chris has taught English to boys and girls up to the age of 18 years. The Salamander Stone is her first full-length novel and will by published by Champagne Books in 2012.

  Mark Leigh has co-published 40 humour and trivia books with three UK best-sellers. His books include How to Be a Superhero (Penguin), The Book of Stupid Lists (Virgin Books), The Lovers' Revenge Kit (Virgin Books) and Pets with Tourettes (Summersdale). Mark has written books with Rolf Harris, Chris Tarrant, Des Lynam, Pamela Stephenson and Jeremy Beadle. He has also written segments for The Baftas and Noel's House Party, and sketches for Hale and Pace, Russ Abbott, Brian Conley and many others.

David Barry began working as a child actor and toured Europe in Peter Brook's production of "Titus Andronicus", starring Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. He also played Frankie Abbott in the '70s sitcoms "Please, Sir!" and "Fenn Street Gang".  David has written about his experiences in his outrageous memoirs entitled Flashback . His debut crime novel Each Man Kills was published by Gomer Press and his next two novels Mr Micawber Down Under and The Wrecking Bar will by published by Robert Hale in Autumn 2011.

Jennie Dodd recently retired from teaching and devotes much of her time now to writing. She has enjoyed telling children's stories for over forty years and draws on many of her own experiences at school for inspiration. Jennie published her first book with Chipmunka Publishing and her second book entitled The Gemini Spell is an exciting children's adventure tale involving endurance horseracing and fairies and is set in the Australian outback.  Jennie has also written a series of charming tales about a frog named Gregory Green-legs in a similar style to "Wind of the Willows".

Ralph Alcock has held academic posts in Scotland, Ireland, Australia and the United States. Ralph was a researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey and a Professor of Agricultural Engineering at South Dakota State University. He was principal of a land-based college in the UK, and now consults on tertiary education and sustainable development. Ralph's first novel entitled Hidden Identity was published in 2010 and his second novel The Loving Son will be published by Paperbooks later this year.

Fergus O'Connell is an world-recognized authority on project management, having published ten management books, including two best-sellers How To Run Successful Projects - The Silver Bullet (2001) and Simply Brilliant - The Competitive Advantage of Common Sense (2004). Work Less, Achieve More: Great Ideas to Get Your Life Back (Headline) was published in 2009, while Earn More, Stress Less (Capstone) and What You Need to Know About Project Management (Capstone) were published in 2010. Fergus's latest book Zero Waste in Business was published by Legend Business in May 2011.

Dorothy M. Mitchell's first published novel was The Willerby Grange Secret. Since then, she has published two new children's stories called The Garden Gnomes Secret and Pic N' Mix, two poetry books including Life in Rhyme (Feather Book poetry series) and two novels called One for Sorry, Two for Joy and Hollybeck, drawing on her experiences in life and writing in a similar vein to Catherine Cookson and Maeve Binchy. Dorothy is working on her next novel called Abigail Beaumont, and recently published a book about her life entitled Multiple Sclerosis - Smiling and Hurting (Chipmunka Publishing).

John Kitchen is a retired schoolteacher. As a teacher he wrote plays, pantomimes and musicals for the children at his school. John has also reviewed books for both Blackwells and Thimble Press. Nicola's Ghost is his first published book and he is currently writing his next children's story entitled A Spectre in the Stones. John often makes free visis to schools across the country to lead writing and reading workshops and to sign books.