S. E. HINTON (1950 - ) was born in 1950 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she still lives today. When she was sixteen, she wrote her first novel "The Outsiders", which has since been made into a popular movie. S. E. Hinton is also the author of "That Was Then, This Is Now" (1971), "Rumble Fish" (1975) and "Tex" (1979), which also deal with various problems faced by teenagers. She has won several awards for young adult fiction.

The Picture of Dorian Gray OSCAR FINGAL O'FLAHERTIE WILLS WILDE (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, poet and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest "celebrities" of his day. Several of his plays continue to be widely performed, especially The Importance of Being Earnest. As the result of a widely covered series of trials, Wilde suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years.

CHARLES DICKENS (1812 - 1870) Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812. He was the second of eight children. Although his father was hard-working, he was unable to support his family, so Charles knew well what it meant to be poor in his days. His first job, at the age of twelve, was labelling bottles. When his father came out of prison, where he had been sent for failling to pay his debts, Charles returned to school where he did well.

Niccolò Ammaniti (born 25 September 1966 in Rome) is an Italian writer. As a young Italian novelist, Ammaniti was part of the cannibalistic group, from the anthology Gioventù Cannibale by Daniele Brolli (1996), for which he wrote a short novel together with Luisa Brancaccio. He became noted in 2001 with the publication of Io non ho paura, a novel which was later made into a movie directed by Gabriele Salvatores. In 2006, he published Come Dio comanda, a novel where nothing should be taken at face value. A crime novel, which is also a weariless dialogue between man and God.

LOIS DUNCAN (1934 - ) grew up in Sarasota, Florida. Ever since she was a young girl, she knew she wanted to be a writer, and she sold her first story to a magazine when she was thirteen. In 1962 she moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she taught at the Journalism Department at the University of New Mexico while she continued to write for magazines. Lois Duncan has written over 50 bestselling books for young people and adults, many of which have won awards.

Emil Erich Kästner (23 February 1899 - 29 July 1974) was a German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poetry and for children's books including Emil and the Detectives. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1960 for his autobiography Als ich ein kleiner Junge war.