Yaël Hassan is a French-Israeli writer born in Paris in 1952. She spent her childhood in Belgium, her adolescence in France, and her youth in Israel. She returned to France in 1984 with her family. Making the most of the time of a very long immobilization, she writes her first novel, A Grandfather Fallen from the Sky (in French Un grand-père tombé du ciel), which won the Price of the Novel Youth 1996 of the Ministry of Youth and sports and Grand prix of the young person reader de la PEEP, then the Sorceress Prize in 1998.

The daughter of a psychiatrist and a drama teacher, Lee Weatherly was born in 1967 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. She moved to the UK in 1995, and now lives in Hampshire with her husband. Before her first book was published in 2002, Lee did a variety of different jobs, from working in a ski resort to being a secretary. But writing is what she always dreamed of, and her first book, 'Child X', was published in June 2002. It is about a thirteen-year-old girl whose father leaves home when he discovers he is not her biological father.

Boris Laskin (1914-1983) is a master of describing his characters with great humour. Unexpected meetings and funny happenings make the basis of the stories. There is from for both a laugh and a sad smile.

Evgenij Ryss studied at the Institute of Art History. He graduated from the three courses, and he lived in Leningrad . Collaborated with the magazine "Star". During the Great Patriotic War, he was a correspondent. After the war he settled in Moscow. He first became known for his writing in 1928, as a playwright with the comedy "Twenty-one danger" The main themes of the works of E. Ryss are about the Soviet worker, about brave and honest people and about basic human rights.

IGOR ZABELIN (1927-1986) He was born in Leningrad, Russia in 1927. He was a geographer of profession, specializing in the theory of physical geography. Far from being the armchair scientist type he has explored the remotest areas of the Soviet Union, such as Tuva, Buryatia, Chukotka and Tien Shan, where he collected a wealth of material for his spare-time writing. He delights in depicting the hard and adventurous life of geographers and pioneers and unraveling the mysteries of lost expeditions - such as he does in his "Valley of the Four Crosses".

JURIJ KAZAKOV (1927-1982) Kazakov was born in Moscow in 1927, and he was an active musician and music teacher. He published his first work in 1953 and was educated at the Gorkij institute. He is mostly known as a writer of short lyric stories. Within this category many will consider him the greatest still artist. He got his inspiration from nature, and he wrote about fishermen's, hunters' and travellers' experiences in the northern districts.

Charlotte Gingras was born in Quebec in 1943. She studied pedagogy, the visual art (drawing, painting, sculpting) and photography. She writes novels for teenagers and adults, and enjoys meeting young readers at school and libraries. Her preferred themes are loneliness, identity and the wish for freedom. She has received several awards, for example the "Gouverneur général" in 2000 for her book "Un été de Jade". She is also an artist and has her works on display in different galleries. During the summer, she likes to visit a small island to write her novels, and take beautiful photos.