Newt Scamander was awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class, in 1979 in recognition of his services to the study of magical beasts, Magizoology. Now retired, he lives in Dorset with his wife, Porpentina, and their pet Kneazles: Hoppy, Milly, and Mauler.
J.K. ROWLING is the author of the seven Harry Potter books, which were first published between 1997 and 2007. The enduringly popular adventures of Harry, Ron, and Hermione have sold over 500 million copies, been translated into over 80 languages, and made into eight blockbuster films. Alongside the Harry Potter series, she also wrote three short companion volumes -- Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard -- which were published in aid of Comic Relief and Lumos. In 2016, J.K. Rowling resumed Harry's story in a stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which she wrote with playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany, and which is now in theaters across the world. In the same year, she wrote the screenplay for the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the first in a series featuring magizoologist Newt Scamander. She is also the author of a stand-alone novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy, and, under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, writes the Strike detective series. In 2020, J.K. Rowling returned to publishing for younger children with the fairy tale The Ickabog, the royalties from which she is donating to groups affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. She lives in Scotland with her family, and is at her happiest alone in a room, making things up.
Olivia Lomenech Gill has a first class degree in Theatre from the University of Hull and an MA in Printmaking from Camberwell College of Arts. She has built her career as a professional fine artist and has been exhibited at all the major London art fairs. Olivia's first professional illustration commission,
Where My Wellies Take Me, written by Clare and Michael Morpurgo, was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and won the English Association Picture Book Award. Olivia lives and works in north Northumberland in a timber studio she built by hand with her husband, a paper conservator. They also have a workshop in a nearby village, which houses Olivia's three-ton printing press.
