Joe writes stories about a boy called Jimmy Coates which are aimed at children aged 8 and above. The books are action thrillers of the same genre as the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, but with a slight sci-fi twist and the series consists of:

Jimmy Coates: Killer (March 2005)
Jimmy Coates: Target (May 2006)
Jimmy Coates: Revenge (January 2007)
Jimmy Coates: Sabotage (October 2007)
Jimmy Coates: Survival (due April 2008)

Shortly after the UK publication, Craig's first book was released in the United States under the title Jimmy Coates: Assassin. It was a finalist for the 2006 Manchester Book Award, and won the Bolton Children's Book Award 2006.

Joe studied philosophy at Emmanuel College and wrote for the Cambridge Footlights. He named a character in his first book after nearby Saffron Walden. Since then Joe’s books have become increasingly admired.

In May 2007 the third book in the Jimmy Coates series was included on the Government's 'Boys into Books' list of all the best books that boys will enjoy, according to the School Libraries Association, and you just have to check out the reviews on Amazon to see how popular they are.

Joe does high-energy and highly interactive workshops on story-writing - it is sure to be a fun session.

Julia explains how she became a writer as follows: "I became a teacher after studying English and Drama at Manchester University. Then I got married and had children. One day I told my daughter, Josie about something very naughty I'd done as a child and she said, 'You should write that down. You've always said you wanted to be a writer really.' So I did - in When Poppy Ran Away."

Since that first book, Julia has become one of the UK's most prolific children's writers with over 80 titles to her name. Her range extends from books to share with very young children (such as the Big Red Bath illustrated by Adrian Reynolds) to the popular Time Travelling Cat series for 9 to 11 year-olds.

Her novel Ghost Writer won a Carnegie Medal in Literature in 2002, and her novel Peace Weavers won one in 2004.

Julia lists her own favourite children's books as Ned the Lonely Donkey - a Ladybird book by Noel Barr, Little Women (and all the sequels) by Louisa M Alcott and Bows Against the Barons by Geoffrey Trease. It's about a boy who joins Robin Hood's band of not-always merry men. Robin Hood is a hero of hers.

Julia lives near Bedford with her husband and a black cat called Perdita.

(Photograph courtesy of Joanna Wilson)

Tony was born in Tripoli, North Africa and spent his childhood in Africa, Germany and Hong Kong. After graduating from Cambridge University, he trained as an English teacher, but went on to work instead as a primary school teacher. He has now given up teaching to concentrate entirely on being a children's poet and storywriter.

He is a prolific writer of poems, stories and picture books for children. His raps series (rhymes which retell well-known stories and myths in a highly original way) are popular with adults and children alike. His Royal Raps won the 1997 Nottinghamshire Libraries/Dillons Children's Book Award.

Scholastic published Tony Mitton's first poetry anthology Plum, The Seal Hunter part of the Everystory series of stories and most recently The Red & White Spotted Handkerchief which has won a silver award at the 2000 Nestle Smarties Book Prize.

Tony lives in Cambridge with his wife and two children.

"You'll just love these poems whatever your age. They tell all your favourite fairy tales in hip-hop raps, that will delight kids with a style that Roald Dahl would have been proud of. Brilliant pictures too!"
Readers Review of Big Bad Raps on amazon.co.uk

Sophie was born in a Dominican monastery near Cambridge - she says she had a very happy childhood surrounded by Fra Angelicos and Ethopian priests!

She now teaches English and is also a staff member of Forest School Camps, working with both the able and those with learning difficulties. She is married, and has two sons. They all live in Cambridge.

As well as non-fiction, Sophie’s writes books for younger children and tells stories of a family with a Down’s Syndrome child.

Her books include Team Trouble, Man of the Match, and Bobby Charlton And The Mountain

"Charlie has a football-mad family - even her mother gives her a yellow card rather than a ticking off because you can't argue with the ref, can you? Join her and her two brothers - one with special needs, the other a teenager with developing attitude - as they head off to summer camp, raise money to buy a football strip and help Charlie come to terms with her fears. Sophie Smiley's lively and charming series features some really engaging characters and plots that will appeal to football fans everywhere."
Review of Man of the Match on Richard & Judy's Book Club

Garth Collard is such a well-known Linton personality that it may surprise some that he hails from Devon. He graduated in history at Cambridge University and taught history at Linton Village College from 1978 until his retirement in 2000.

Garth has a special interest in local history and founded the Linton and District History Society in 1985. The Society has gone from strength to strength and now numbers over 100 members. Garth's illustrated talks and history walks are the highlight of the Society's diverse progamme of events.

In 2006 he published Linton in Pictures - A Photographic History with Norman Dann utilising his vast collection of carefully documented village photographs - many dating back to the 19th century.

Garth has agreed to start our Festival with a walking tour of the village on Saturday 3rd May, recreating the 17th century Battle of Linton. Sounds unmissable!

Stuart Hill's first novel - The Cry of the Icemark - was widely acclaimed by critics and public alike on its publication in 2005.

Winner of the Ottakar's Children's Book Prize and Highland Children's Book Award for Long Novels, it was soon followed by The Blade of Fire which continues the extraordinary tales of the Kingdom of Icemark and its feisty young queen Thirrin.

Stuart grew up in Leicester and taught for many years before deciding to dedicate himself to writing full-time. An entertaining speaker, he promises to bring a new dimension to our Festival as we enter a world of fantasy and adventure...

Reviews of Stuart Hill's first novel - The Cry of the Icemark

"... will have readers shivering with delight."
TIMES

"... a supremely satisfying read which really deserves to be called a page-turner."
Philip Ardagh, GUARDIAN

"... the writing is as crisp and clear as the snowy landscape Hill depicts so beautifully."
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Valerie Bloom was born and grew up in Clarendon, Jamaica. Caribbean life and culture have shaped or influenced a great deal of her writing.

She was enchanted with literature from a very early age; her work first entered the public arena when she won a national competition, and as a result saw her poem 'Mek ah ketch har' form part of the national festival.

Valerie Bloom has performed her work throughout the world on television and radio - she recently produced a three part documentary, 'Island Voices' for BBC Radio 4. She is equally experienced in the classroom and runs courses for teachers and librarians as well as conducting writing and performance workshops in schools.

Her lively poetry is written in English and Jamaican patois and has become widely known through her books, those of her own poetry and anthologies she has edited. She was commissioned to write a poem on Celebration for National Poetry Day 2002. Her most recent publication is her second novel - The Tribe.

Valerie lives with her family in Kent, and is inspired by everything around her, from the late September sunshine to the antics of her husband and children. She was awarded an MBE in December 2007.

'…dazzles with wit, intelligence, humour and lyricism. Not to be missed.’
Books for Keeps

Frequently described as today's leading illustrator of childrens' books, Axel Scheffler's work has captivated and delighted a whole generation.

Axel was born in Hamburg, Germany. At school, although always good at art, he never really considered a career in illustration. He began a course in History of Art in Hamburg and then moved to England to study illustration at the Bath Academy of Art where he acheived a first class degree.

Axel has achieved worldwide acclaim for his humorous illustrations, and his books have been translated into over 29 languages. He has enjoyed particular success in his award-winning picture book collaborations with Julia Donaldson. The Gruffalo, was published in March 1999 and has already become a modern classic, selling more than 2 million copies worldwide and translated into over 20 languages. It was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and it won the 1999 Smarties Gold Medal Award for picture books, and the 2000 Blue Peter Award for The Best Book to Read Aloud.

It was followed by Monkey Puzzle, also nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and Room on the Broom which was published September 2001, and also won the 2002 Blue Peter Award for The Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud.

Axel also continues to illustrate for other authors as well, including Ian Whybrow and David Henry Wilson. The Smartest Giant in Town was shortlisted for the Red House Children's Book Award, and The Snail and the Whale was published to great acclaim and won the 2005 Blue Peter Best Illustrated Book to Read Aloud Award.

We are delighted that Axel has agreed to come to our Festival and hope that he will inspire our local children to express themselves artistically.

Alan Shea is a new author, whose debut book The Amazing Mind of Alice Makin is published in March 2008.

It's a fantastic story about a girl called Alice in post-WW2 London and her extraordinary imagination.

Twelve-year old Alice is growing up in a grey world of old bombsites, in post war London. It’s a tough life made harder by her difficult step-dad.

Alice’s escape is her imagination, which always brightens her day. But when a new boy called Reggie starts school, her mind begins playing tricks on her. She seems oddly drawn to him and whenever they are together the world becomes a more exciting and colourful place.

A place where imagination appears to becomes real: where a bubble-gum machine can suddenly explode into a thousand coloured balls, a handful of fireworks become the greatest show ever, and a row on the lake becomes a terrifying adventure.

The book is for boys and girls aged 9+. Alan is an ex-head teacher with a really interesting background, and is expected to give a great talk for both children and adults.

Deborah Chancellor is a prolific and versatile non-fiction writer who lives in Saffron Walden.

Deborah trained as an elementary school teacher before becoming an editor of children’s books. She has now written more than thirty books for children, and her work ranges from Kingfisher's First Picture Atlas to Barrington Stoke's Escape from Colditz to the Dorling Kindersley Children's Everyday Bible.

Deborah will explain how her work develops from an idea to a finished book. She will lead a writing workshop for 9-14 year-olds, focussing on how to plan and produce eye-catching non-fiction.

"Enhanced with impressive photography, Deborah Chancellor's text and fun projects will introduce young readers to the use of maps to explore and understand the world. From charting seabeds from a submarine; to finding hidden treasures where "X" marks the spot; to satellite mapping of every corner of the earth, Maps And Mapping is enthusiastically recommended."
Reader's Review of Maps and Mapping on Amazon.co.uk

Dr Liz Hide trained as a geologist and palaeontologist, and has carrried out fieldwork across Europe. She now works for the museums of the University of Cambridge, which include the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, one of the most important geological collections in the world.

Liz will telling the story of Stone Girl Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt. This true story is about a 12 year old girl called Mary Anning who, in 1811, discovered the first fossil skeleton of a giant sea creature, and went on to be one of the greatest fossil collectors of her time.

Liz will be talking about collecting fossils, and will bring along some of the Musuem's amazing fossils from the Jurassic period for you to handle.

Paul Cookson and David Harmer became Spill The Beans on 4th of February 1992 in Widnes. Since then, they have performed hundreds of shows together, throughout the country.

Their highly original double act is an action- packed explosion of performance poetry, that appeals to all ages - as the Linton audience will remember when they closed the 2006 Festival with a barnstorming show.

Spill the Beans will be appearing at Linton schools on Wednesday 7 March with a special performance lined up for the Granta School in the afternoon. We are really looking forward to seeing them again and introducing them to the newest members of our community.

Obelon Art & Puppetry Company was established in East Anglia in 1988. Obelon performs shows using an exciting mix of actors, puppets and masks.

For their Festival appearance, they will be performing The Singing Storycloth...

Two tailors set to work in front of their stunningly-stitched storycloth before the tales depicted on it draw them away from more mundane tasks into imaginary worlds...

The theme of fabric itself is central to the tales from Nigeria, Scotland, India, China and America. The rich and colourful puppetry, textile and musical traditions of each culture are woven into the show. Spinning, sewing and weaving songs, beautifully-crafted puppets, together with swathes of cloth, are utilised in inventive ways to bring the Singing Storycloth to life.

'Excellent ... really captured their imagination'
'Wonderful - colourful and fun'
'Beautiful'
Audience feedback from previous shows

Cathy Myer is a freelance consultant and writer for early years, primary and art education. She has taught children aged three to eleven and has worked as advisory teacher and university lecturer.

She has written several academic papers on how to stimulate children's creativity and really enjoys putting her ideas into practice through poetry and art activities.

Cathy will bring her poetry coat to the Linton Festival. Hidden in its many pockets are objects which help to tell a spell-binding tale made up of rhymes and poems.

Cathy will lead two sessions, the first for smaller children aged 3 to 6 and the second for older children aged 7 to 10. Please bring a grown-up.

Music Matters combines sing-along activities and percussion play with
rhythm, pitch and tempo related rhymes and games.

Through their fun and enjoyable classes, Music Matters aims to develop an early awareness of the different elements of music.

Emma Mason's background is in music and teaching. As well as running Music Matters she gives private music lessons at Linton Village College.

For further information please telephone Emma on 01223 893140 or email music.matters@virgin.net.

The Curwen Print Study Centre was established by Stanley Jones Hon. D Litt. Master Printer and Director of The Curwen Studio with Sam Alper managing director of Curwen Chilford Prints as an educational Print making charity.

They identified a need for fine Art Print making teaching for students and artists against a background of growth within computer-generated art and the declining provision and facilities within art schools for fine art printing techniques.

The aim of the study centre is to preserve and develop the experience and skills which form a background to the concept of the artist's original print.

The study centre has the unique benefit of being situated adjacent to the Curwen Studio allowing students and artists the opportunity to learn how a commercial fine Art Print making editioning studio works.

Since the formation of the Curwen Print Study Centre students from schools, primary and senior, have benefited from the printmaking experience along with University graduates.

Teachers attending training workshops ensure Print making skills are taken directly back into the classroom to enrich and support the curriculum.

Print making at The Curwen Print Study Centre responds to all ages and abilities and delivers high quality education and experience for all. Groups have come knowing nothing and left feeling enriched.