Patrick Ness is the internationally and New York Times bestselling author of A Monster Calls, which won both the Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, and was made into a major motion picture for which he wrote the screenplay. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling Chaos Walking trilogy, More Than This, Release, Different for Boys, The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Burn, and Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody. His many accolades include two Carnegie Medals, an Olivier Award, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Book Trust Teenage Prize, and the Costa Children’s Book Award. Ness lives in London and his latest book for young adults is Piper at the Gates of Dusk (2026).
Robert Slade is a Canadian stage, film and television actor residing in London. He began his career in theatre and has since expanded to work in film and television. His on-screen roles include children's show Fred Penner's Place and For the Moment, alongside Russell Crowe. In 2005, he moved to London where his career flourished appearing in Casino Royale, Hyde Park on Hudson, Red Lights and in the BBC documentary The Wild West: Billy the Kid. He has also recorded radio commercials and audiobooks and appeared as multiple characters in the computer games So Blonde and ShellShock2.