Bill Condon's young adult novels, Dogs (2001) and No Worries (2005), were Honour Books in the Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards. No Worries was also shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize in the 2005 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. His most recent YA novel, Daredevils, was published in 2007 and made the longlist in the inaugural Inky Awards – Australia's first teenage choice awards. Before devoting himself to novels, Bill had a long and successful career as a writer of poetry, short stories and plays for young people. His work encompasses many genres and he has close to one hundred titles to his credit. He lives on the south coast of New South Wales with his wife, the well known children's author Di (Dianne) Bates.

Catherine Bateson writes poetry, verse novels and novels for younger readers and young adults. She has won the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers twice – with Rain May and Captain Daniel (2003) and Being Bee (2006). Her books have won or been shortlisted for many other prizes, including the Queensland Premier's Literary Award and the children’s choice awards KOALA and YABBA. Her novels for younger readers have been published in America by Holiday House and others have been published in translation. She also writes poetry for adults. Catherine lives in the Dandenongs, near Melbourne, with her husband, her son and daughter and her youngest step-daughter, a labrador, a terrier and assorted tropical fish. She works as a writer in schools and teaches Professional Writing and Editing at TAFE. She is a dedicated teacher and, after writing, loves nothing more than talking about writing and reading.

Born in Papua New Guinea in 1972, Anthony Eaton spent an idyllic childhood growing up in the Perth hills and the Cocos Keeling Islands. He worked as a literature and drama teacher for eight years, during which time his first novel, The Darkness, was awarded the 2001 Western Australian Premier's Book Award for Young Adult Literature. In 2005, his historical fiction novel Fireshadow also won the WA Premier's Book Award for Young Adult Literature and was named an Honour Book in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards. To assist in the research for Into White Silence, he spent Christmas of 2005 at Casey Station on the east coast of Antarctica as part of the Australian Antarctic Division's Arts Fellowships program. He lives in Canberra with his wife, Imogen, and a slightly deranged Kelpie named Chelsea.

Victoria Bowen is a semi-retired teacher and librarian who was born in Perth, Western Australia. She has also worked in specialist children's bookshops and has pursued a number of interests in children's literature. Victoria has an arts degree from the University of Western Australia majoring in history and literature, a teacher's certificate from Claremont Teachers College and was an Associate of the Library Association of Australia. War’s End is her first book.

James Roy was born in Trundle, NSW in 1968, and spent much of his early life living on mission compounds in Papua New Guinea and Fiji. He enjoyed adventuring by day and reading by night. Then one day, tired of reading books by dead people, he decided to start writing his own. Among his many published books, his mid-grade novel Captain Mack and its prequel Billy Mack’s War were both CBCA Honour Books, as was A Boat for Bridget. His popular non-fiction title The ‘S’ Word – A Boys’ Guide to Sex, Puberty and Growing Up is used widely in middle-school, and has been sold into the UK, Irish and French markets. His most recent books include the critically acclaimed Town. A much sought-after presenter to schools, James lives in the Blue Mountains with his wife and two daughters. His interests include music, sport and bushwalking.

Brian Caswell was born in Wales in 1954, and emigrated to Australia at the age of twelve. After some success in the music industry, he became a teacher and worked for fifteen years in Sydney’s south-west. Merryll of the Stones, Brian’s first novel, was named an Honour Book in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards and this success led to a new career as a young people’s author. Since 1989, Brian has written twenty-five books which have received many awards and shortlistings, including the Children’s Peace Literature Award, the Aurealis Award, the Australian Multicultural Children’s Literature Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Award. All his published novels have been listed as Notable Books by the CBCA. Brian lives on the NSW Central Coast with his wife Marlene. They have four children and five grandchildren. He plays and coaches basketball, designs cutting-edge educational programs, listens to all kinds of music (usually far too loud), watches an excessive number of movies and DVDs, and is hopelessly addicted to soda water.

Celeste Walters is the author of plays for children and adults, novels for younger readers, texts on developmental drama, three books of whimsical verse for all ages and one or two eulogies. She has written five highly acclaimed young adult novels: The Killing of Mud-Eye, The Last Race, The Glass Mountain, Deception and At Seventeen. Celeste has been a primary and secondary school teacher and a lecturer in literature and drama at Deakin University. She now divides her time between Melbourne and country New South Wales.

Anne Spudvilas has been passionate about drawing since childhood and now is a renowned illustrator of picture books and covers for young adult books. Anne launched into illustrating children's books when asked to design a cover for Isobelle Carmody's novel The Gathering in the early 1990s. Since this beginning, she has produced over thirty covers as well as a number of award-winning picture books and illustrated novels. Anne grew up in Camperdown, Victoria and currently lives in Geelong with her family, which includes two cats.