The Puffin Portal

Vashti Hardy is a writer of children's books living near Brighton in Sussex with her husband and three teens. She was a primary school teacher for several years, and has a special interest in children’s writing, especially free-writing and the use of journals and creating fantasy worlds. She has a first-class honours teaching degree with English specialism and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Chichester. After leaving teaching to focus more on her writing, she became a copywriter and digital marketing executive. Vashti is an alumni member and writing buddy of The Golden Egg Academy and is represented by Kate Shaw of The Viney Shaw Agency, and her books BRIGHTSTORM and WILDSPARK are published in the UK by Scholastic.

Emily Wheaton has been working in the voiceover space for as long as she has been acting. Her voice credits include the Emmy Award-nominated animated series Get Ace, by Galaxy Pop. She also has a strong singing voice and first trod the boards as a child in the role of Brigitta in The Sound of Music for SEL/GFO. Having been born in the UK, Emily can work in UK dialects as well as her natural Australian accent.