We are very excited to announce that we have a fabulous line of of authors for our students to ‘meet’ in the Ceremony later on today. We have Sharna Jackson, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Kenneth Oppel, Bali Rai and Victoria Williamson! The lucky attendees will be able to question the authors after the announcement of the winning author (can’t wait for that!), and then at the end of the Ceremony they will get a sneak preview of next year’s theme and books as well!
Marcus Sedgwick is the author of our shortlisted book ‘She is not invisible’. He is a prolific author with his books being shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie medal no less than six times. She is not Invisible has won four other awards so far, and was shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Book Award. In order to write She is not Invisible Marcus worked closely with students and their librarian in a school for visually impaired students, so that he could understand more closely what it was like to be his heroine, and the students checked his novel for facts before publishing.His latest, just published book Saint Death is a searingly honest story about life in South America, most particularly about the grinding poverty a rich lifestyle imposes on the poor. We hope you enjoy She is not Invisible, and go on to read Marcus’s other books.
Our third guest author is Matt Dickinson – whom some of you have already had the privilege of meeting when he visited your school. Matt has written the very exciting book The Everest Files, which is the first in a trilogy. By the time of the Awards Ceremony on 9 March, his second book, North Face, will be published. This will continue the story of Ryan Hart, whom we have been reading about in The Everest Files.
What makes Matt’s book so interesting is that he himself has climbed Everest, and so we know that all of the scenes on the mountain are absolutely authentic. Matt has also been a 
cameraman for National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, amongst others, so he has a wide experience of travelling to exciting places. He also continues to climb mountains. You can find out more about Matt and the books he has written and films he has made on his website here: http://www.mattdickinson.com/ Do look out for the sequels to The Everest Files, or read his other exciting trilogy, the Mortal Chaos series. We are all looking forward to meeting Matt at the Ceremony!
Philip Reeve is an author who has a long history of writing excellent science fiction books. Mortal Engines, first published in 2001, has been one of my personal favourites for a long time. So successful was this book that three sequels were published – Predator’s Gold, Infernal Devices and A Darkling Plain. Then a prequel was added – Fever Crumb – which itself spawned two sequels of its own. The world we see in Mortal Engines, of cities on the move, preying on each other, is very exciting and very believable. If you have enjoyed Mortal Engines, do go on to read the sequels. And watch out for his newest book, Rail Head, which is published this month. It 
sounds as if it is related to the world of Mortal Engines, with sentient trains, and I can’t wait to read it! Read more about Philip Reeve and his new book on his website here: http://www.philip-reeve.com/
Paul Dowswell is one of the three authors we are lucky enough to be hosting at the Trinity Awards Ceremony this year. Paul was at our inaugural ceremony last year as well, with his book Eleven Eleven. This year, Powder Monkey is on our Junior Award shortlist, an exciting story of a young boy called Sam Witchall who joins the navy at the time of the Napoleonic wars, when England and France were at war. If you have read this book – and you probably have by now – you will agree that it is really exciting. If you want to find out more about the author, please visit his website here: http://www.pauldowswell.co.uk/ On the website, you will see that 
Paul enjoys writing historical novels, many of which will be on your school library shelves already. If you liked Powder Monkey, and Paul’s writing, then go on to read Auslander (set in Nazi Germany), Sektion 20 (set in Communist East Berlin) and Red Shadow, set in Stalin’s Russia in 1941, or Cabinet of Curiosities, set in Renaissance Prague.