Chris Smith is a bestselling author and the joint recipient of the 2024 Ruth Rendell award for his work promoting literacy and campaigning for school libraries. Chris created the Kid Normal series with his friend Greg James and recently the pair published The Twits Next Door which became an instant bestseller. Chris is also a solo author and has published two fantasy adventures set in his fictional kingdom of Parallelia including Frankie Best Hates Quests . Before he was an author Chris worked as a newsreader and presenter on radio stations including Xfm and BBC Radio 1. His most famous news bulletin is probably the one sampled by George Michael in 1998 and used on his international hit Outside . Chris lives in London with his wife Jenny, their son Lucas and Mabel the cat. James Lancett grew up in Cardiff before moving to London to study BA Illustration and Animation at Kingston University. He now lives in Bath where he works as a bestselling illustrator and animation director, and is known for his illustrations for the Lenny Lemon series, the Adam B series, Romesh Ranganathan's Lil' Muffin Drops the Mic and many others.