Tom Holland is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster. He is the author of Rubicon: The Triumph and the Tragedy of the Roman Republic, which won the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize; Persian Fire, his history of the Graeco-Persian wars, won the Anglo-Hellenic League's Runciman Award in 2006. Tom Holland is the presenter of BBC Radio 4's "Making History" and acclaimed podcast "The Rest is History". He has written and presented a number of TV documentaries, for the BBC and Channel 4, on subjects ranging from ISIS to dinosaurs. He served two years as the Chair of the Society of Authors and is Chair of the British Library's PLR Advisory Committee.

Born in New Zealand, Jason Cockcroft grew up in the north of England and studied illustration at Falmouth University. He has illustrated numerous picture books and fiction titles for all ages, most notably contributing the cover artwork for three of the original UK editions of the Harry Potter series. His debut fiction title We Were Wolves published in 2021.