Horribly Famous: Cleopatra and her Angry Asp Award-winning author/illustrator

A brilliant author and screenwriter for children, Margaret Simpson is the author of Dead Famous: Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Cleopatra and Double Take: Rivals for the Crown. She is somewhat of a Tudor expert, and has also written Arthurian Legends in the Twisted Tales series for Scholastic.

Philip Reeve was born and raised in Brighton, where he worked in a bookshop for years while also producing and directing a number of no-budget theatre projects.

Philip then began illustrating and has since provided cartoons and jokes for around forty books, including the best-selling Scholastic series Horrible Histories, as well as Murderous Maths and Dead Famous.

He’s been writing stories since he was five, but Mortal Engines was the first to be published. Mortal Engines defies easy categorisation. It is a gripping adventure story set in an inspired fantasy world, where moving cities trawl the globe. A magical and unique read, it immediately caught the attention of readers and reviewers and won several major awards. Three more Hungry Cities novels followed, and Philip’s latest project are the Fever Crumb books, prequels set centuries before the events of Mortal Engines.

Philip has also written Buster Bayliss, a series for younger readers, and stand alone novels including Here Lies Arthur, which won the Carnegie Medal.

Philip lives in Devon with his wife and son and his interests are walking, drawing, writing and reading.