Scary Mary and the Stripe Spell

Emily Rodda's first book, Something Special, was published in 1984. It marked the beginning of a career that has seen her become one of the most successful, prolific and versatile writers in Australia. Since then, Emily has written or co-authored more than 90 books for children. Her children's books range from picture books to YA novels, and include the award-winning Rowan of Rin series as well as the outstandingly successful Deltora Quest fantasy series. A full-time author since 1994, Emily has won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year award a record five times and seems to instinctively know what children want to read. A former editor of The Women's Weekly, Emily is also the bestselling author of adult mysteries under her own name of Jennifer Rowe.

Rupert Degas is a prolific audiobook narrator with decades of experience narrating audiobooks, with some 300 titles to his credit. His extensive catalogue showcases his remarkable ability to bring different characters to life with his voice. He has received particular critical acclaim for his performances of The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss and for Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. In 2022 Rupert was inducted as a Golden Voice by AudioFile Magazine. What is a Golden Voice? According to AudioFile, 'a Golden Voice narrator exemplifies the very best in audiobook talent, and AudioFile bestows the highest honour in audiobook narration on voice artists who have made significant contributions to the audiobook art form'. Since 1992 AudioFile has given this lifetime achievement honour to just 38 audiobook narrators including Miriam Margolyes, Jim Dale, Martin Jarvis, and Derek Jacobi. Great company indeed! In addition to audiobooks Rupert has provided voices for more than 30 animated films and series including Bob the Builder, The Amazing World of Gumball, Thomas & Friends and The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill. Rupert has performed in many radio series and video games, as well as voicing thousands of commercials and promos. He also sometimes appears on film, TV and stage, most notably in the original London productions of Stones in His Pockets and The 39 Steps – for which he and the team won the 2007 Olivier Award for Best Comedy.