Piers Torday began his career in theatre and then television as a producer and writer. He is the author of the Last Wild trilogy, titles within which have won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the UKLA Award, and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. In 2016, There May Be A Castle was a Times Children's Book of the Year. In regular demand as a speaker at schools and festivals, Piers is also a reading helper with Beanstalk, a former judge on the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a Patron of Reading at Heathmere School and a trustee of the Pleasance Theatre.