Kenneth Steven is a successful poet, novelist and children’s writer who has published some 25 books. His BBC Radio 4 documentary on the island of St Kilda won him a Sony Award. His previous novel, The Well of the North Wind (SPCK, 2016), was a spiritual tale set on 6th-century Iona, whilst Beneath the Ice (Saraband, 2016) tells the story of the Arctic Sami people. He grew up in Highland Perthshire in the heart of Scotland, and now lives in Argyll on the country’s west coast; it’s these landscapes that have inspired the lion’s share of both his poetry and prose. Ishy Walters works as an illustrator and mural artist from her home in the hills of NE Scotland. With artists on both sides of the family she has always drawn and painted wherever she has found herself living or travelling and likes to explore different styles and mediums to create a unique response to each new project. As a high functioning dyslexic with dyscalculia (to use the technical jargon) Ishy is fascinated by the power of visual learning. Because we can record and retrieve highly complex concepts through easily recalled images, communicate many layers of information in one picture, and trigger all our other senses with sight, she believes there is a much greater potential for the visual arts in both education and the workplace. That pictures can transcend the boundaries of language, society, and culture, and connect people across these chasms is a constant motivation for her work.
