Remember you have the right to be you.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS AND ARTISTS

KATE ALIZADEH has illustrated two picture books, one of which – Quiet! – featured in the Booktrust Great Books Guide 2017. She has hand-lettered cover designs for two of Non Pratt’s books. She lives in Cardiff.

STEVE ANTONY has written and illustrated twelve picture books, won numerous awards and toured the UK, USA, Italy and Taiwan. He illustrated Tim Minchin’s When I Grow Up from his hit musical Matilda and illustrated a cover for the Famous Five series. He’s a proud patron of Swindon Libraries and recently designed a new children’s library card for them. He is red-green colourblind, which has influenced the way he works.

DEAN ATTA was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize for his debut poetry collection, I Am Nobody’s Nigger. His poems deal with themes of race, gender, identity and growing up, and have appeared on BBC One, BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service and Channel 4. Dean was named as one of the most influential LGBT people in the UK by the Independent on Sunday. He regularly performs across the UK and internationally. His debut novel, The Black Flamingo, will be published in August 2019 by Hodder Children’s Books.

FOX BENWELL holds degrees in international education and writing for young people, and is working on his PhD. In his spare time (ha!) he sings barbershop or plays D&D – though often not together. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed The Last Leaves Falling and Kaleidoscope Song.

ALEX BERTIE is a young transgender YouTuber. At just fourteen he started making videos on sexuality and gender identity, and continues to do so with weekly uploads. To this day, he has reached 250,000 subscribers. His work has been picked up by organizations such as Childline and Stonewall, and has been recognized by the Independent, YouTube magazine TenEighty and trans publication FTM Magazine.

CAROLINE BIRD has five collections of poetry published by Carcanet. A two-time winner of the Foyles Young Poets Award, her first collection Looking Through Letterboxes was published in 2002 when she was fifteen. She won an Eric Gregory Award in 2002 and has been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize and twice for the Dylan Thomas Prize. She was an official poet at the 2012 Olympics.

KATHI “FATTI” BURKE is an Irish illustrator living in Amsterdam, working specifically on children’s non-fiction titles following the success of her first book, Irelandopedia (Gill Books, 2015), which was a collaboration with her father, John Burke. Her illustration style is colourful, humorous and childlike, mirroring her love for visual communication and education. When she’s not drawing in books for kids, Kathi enjoys people-watching, eating big dinners and playing along with game shows.