Stephen Speight studied English at Oxford, where he met his future wife. After several years of teaching in comprehensive schools he moved to Edge Hill College of Education. From there he was invited to take up a post in a new English Department in Dortmund, Germany. He has been at Dortmund University ever since, teaching language, literature and technical English, and supervising students on teaching practice. He began work on readers and textbooks soon after arriving in Germany, and has now been working more or less continuously as an educational author for the best part of twenty years.

I had the good fortune of being born in a small town (how small? Population 8,500 - well, OK, 8,489) in Northern Maine in the U.S.A. As a boy, my love of fishing led me a merry chase deep into the Maine woods in pursuit of the wily brook trout. Those happy hours instilled in me a love of nature that has remained with me throughout the years. My colleagues can vouch for that.

Philip Hewitt grew up and went to school in the town of Croydon before it became part of London.

Mon grand petit frère Brigitte Peskine was born in 1951. She has three daughters and eight grandchildren. She writes novels for teenagers and adults. She also wrote the script for a television series. She shares her time between Paris and the Berry region, where she writes, sculpts and greets her big family.