KATY EPHINSTONE trained in art and Italian literature at Aberystwyth University in Wales, Katy lives and works near Rome, Italy, as an artist and illustrator. As well as her paintings of Africa, Scotland and the Italian landscape, her work is regularly used by United Nations agencies including UNICEF and FAO. Katy is both the reteller and the illustrator for Real Reads' versions of "Robinson Crusoe" and "Moby Dick".

The Scottish novelist and academic MARGARET ELPHINSTONE's first novel was published in 1987. Her latest, "The Gathering Night", was published in 2009. She is Emeritus Professor of Scottish Literature at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. Apart from spells of academic work in the USA, she has spent most of her working life in various parts of Scotland including Shetland, Edinburgh and Glasgow.