Kiera has always been fascinated by the ways words can be used to twist insanity into perfect sense, and thought she better take some responsibility and twist some of it back again.

Tom is the author of fifteen books of fantasy, SF and historical fiction – including the Twilight Reign series, The God Fragments and his latest series, The Devil Diaries. After a degree in International Relations he went straight into publishing where he still works. He never received the memo about suitable jobs for writers and consequently has never been a kitchen-hand, hospital porter, pigeon hunter, or secret agent. He lives in Oxford, isn’t one of those authors who gives a damn about the history of the font used in his books and only believes in forms of exercise that allow him to hit something.

Mario Coelho is a award wining children’s book illustrator based in Oxford with several mainstream picture book publications including with the prestigious Oxford University Press and several independent publications with the very well known and acclaimed children’s poet John foster.

Very recently I have worked alongside the great illustrator Korky Paul for a publishing project with Epic Tales where we both illustrated several titles.

Roxy Eloise always dreamed of becoming an author, but writing a full book felt impossible, until a birthday gift, You Are a Badass, gave her the confidence to try. At twenty-eight, she finished her first manuscript and secured a traditional publishing deal through PitMad.

Her debut, The Guidal: Discovering Puracordis, is a dystopian romantasy set in a near-future UK where time determines worth. It follows a sixteen-year-old girl raised in a strict institute, grappling with oppression, mystery, and a secret that threatens everything. Inspired by a dream, the series blends rebellion, identity, and forbidden magic.

Originally a trilogy, The Guidal series has expanded to four books, concluding in 2026. Roxy writes for readers who love flawed yet determined heroines, dystopian lies, and worlds where humanity is deliberately disconnected from its true power.

Steve has spent his life trying to discover the secret of how to become a fully-functioning adult. He has so far failed. One thing he has learnt is that he ought to have tried writing a book forty years earlier than he did, although he also now realises that he should have become a celebrity first, as this would have made selling it much easier.

He currently has three comedy spy thrillers to his name, all published by Claret Press: A Very Important Teapot, set in Australia; Bored to Death in the Baltics, not set in Australia; and Poor Table Manners, which takes place in Cape Town. These feature an initially fairly hapless hero, Dawson, and a considerably less hapless heroine, Lucy, together with varied supporting casts, most of whom are not who they claim to be.

In 2025, Steve also released into the world a comedy-murder-mystery, Lazytown, set in an eccentric Oxfordshire village. And, in a departure from comedy, a UK based thriller, False Connections, featuring ex-MI5 agent, Mel Milano, may well be out before the summer book fair. This could be the first of a new series, although Dawson and Lucy are also planning another outing at some point.

I hope to display 3 books this time, one a personal account of living in and visiting Japan entitled ‘An Affair with a Village — the work of social anthropological fieldwork and the long-term relationships built up’. The other two are novels: the first the tale of a 1960s escapee from the expectation that a girl, even with a degree, should quickly settle down, marry and have children.

The book, ‘Sharing Worlds’, recounts the exciting life she discovers between Mexico and Scotland, a fascinating job she finds, but still the conflict with wanting eventually to fulfil that expectation.

The second novel, to be launched at the Fair, is a sequel, and recounts the peripatetic life of a young woman whose travels and troubles are symbolised by the book’s title, ‘Born at Sea’. Set in the last three decades of the 20th century, it touches on cultural conflicts, the (recovering) plight of indigenous languages, and the early days of Climate Change, all presented through the eyes of a girl growing up. Spolier alert/ promise: both novels draw on some of my own experience as a social anthropologist, but the second is an entirely invented story.