Shane Hegarty (Author) Shane Hegarty has been shortlisted for an abundance of awards. His younger, middle grade title Boot was shortlisted for the Sainsbury's Book Award, nominated for An Post Irish Book Awards and chosen as UNESCO Dublin City Of Literature Citywide Read. Darkmouth was nominated for the Waterstones Prize, An Post Irish Book Awards and the Bord Gáis Irish Book Awards. Before becoming a full-time writer, Shane Hegarty was a journalist and editor of The Irish Times and worked in radio and the music business. Shane lives in Skerries, County Dublin. Richard Merritt (Illustrator) Born and bred in North London, award winning artist Richard Merritt has been an illustrator for over 12 years after graduating from Central Saint Martin's college of Art and Kingston University. Richard has worked with many publishing houses, magazines, design groups, advertising agencies and more, on a wide variety of projects, from children's books to packaging, editorial art to costume illustration for film. He recently worked on the Steven Spielberg adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic story, The BFG and has been at the forefront of the adult colouring book trend that has gained popularity across the world.