Justine Larbalestier was born and raised in Sydney and is the author of the award-winning Magic or Madness Trilogy. She is married to young-adult author Scott Westerfeld and they divide their time between Sydney and New York City. She wishes she had a clothes-shopping fairy instead of the procrastination fairy she battles with almost every day.
The Australian actor Kate Atkinson has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Curtin University with a double major in Theatre Arts. Much admired for her role as the policewoman Karen in the TV series SeaChange, she has held roles in many other prominent Australian productions, including the TV series Kath and Kim, CrashBurn and Blue Heelers as well as the films The Jammed, Japanese Story and The Hard Word. She recently spent three and a half years in the UK, where she held guest roles in the TV series Sinchronicity and Sugar Rush, as well as the lead in the theatre production Romantic Comedy.