Jamila Gavin

Because of her Anglo-Indian background, experiencing life in both India and England, Jamila Gavin’s dual heritage was the main inspiration behind her writing. Since her first book, ‘The Magic Orange Tree’ was published in 1979, she has been writing steadily, producing collections of short stories and several teenage novels, for the whole age range from six to sixteen, including three books about ‘Grandpa Chatterji,’ ‘The Surya Trilogy,’ and ‘Coram Boy,’ which won the Children’s Whitbread Award in the year 2000. ‘The Blood Stone,’ set in C17, between Venice and the Mogul court of Shah Jehan in India, was published in 2004. Jamila has just completed a novel set in contemporary London, presently called ‘The Robber Baron’s Daughter,’ and is also working on a new version of some stories from the ancient Indian collection known as the Panchatantra.

Coram Boy is experiencing new life going from book to stage and on to film. It was adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundsen, and had two successful runs at the National Theatre in London. It has subsequently transferred to Broadway.

Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE

The Baroness Greenfield is Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain (the first woman to hold that position) and Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, where she leads a multi-disciplinary team investigating neurodegenerative disorders. In addition she is Director of the Oxford Centre for the Science of the Mind, exploring the physical basis of consciousness.

Her books include “The Human Brain: A Guided Tour” (1997), “The Private Life of the Brain” (2000), and “Tomorrow’s People: How 21st Century Technology Is Changing the Way We Think and Feel” (2003). She has spun off four companies from her research, made a diverse contribution to print and broadcast media, and led a Government report on “Women In Science”. She has received 29 Honorary Degrees, Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (2000), a non-political Life Peerage (2001) as well as the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur (2003). In 2006 she was installed as Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University and voted `Honorary Australian of the Year’. . In 2007 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Michael Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo, MBE, is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, and a Hans Christian Andersen Ambassador. He was the Booksellers’ Association Author of the Year 2005.

A teacher for eight years, his first book was published in 1975, and he has since published over a hundred titles. His books have been translated into 28 languages. Many have been adapted for stage, screen and radio.

His books include: Kensuke’s Kingdom, Out of the Ashes, Private Peaceful, (all winners of The Children’s Book Award), The Wreck of Zanzibar (winner of the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year), The Butterfly Lion (Smarties Prize), King of the Cloud Forest (Prix Sorciere), Why the Whales Came and The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips. Retellings include Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Beowulf and Aesop’s Fables.

He is co-founder, with his wife Clare, of Farms for City Children, an educational charity that has welcomed some 60,000 city children since 1976.

Last year he was awarded the OBE for services to Children's Literature. In 2006 he co -wrote and presented the major 30 part series for Radio 4, 'The Invention of Childhood.' Recent publications include: 'Singing for Mrs Pettigrew' , 'Alone on a Wide Wide Sea' , 'On Angel Wings' . The Bristol Old Vic production of 'Private Peaceful' tours the country for the third time this autumn. And the National Theatre production of 'War Horse', begins in London in October. New books to be published this September: 'The Mozart Question' and 'Best Mate'.

Gervase Phinn

For 14 years Gervase Phinn taught in a range of schools until, in 1984, he became General Adviser for Language Development in Rotherham. Four years later he moved to North Yorkshire where he spent 10 years as a schools inspector, time that has provided so much material for his books.

Gervase Phinn is probably best known for his best-selling autobiographical novels: The Other Side of the Dale, Over Hill and Dale and Head Over Heels in the Dales. He has published many articles, chapters and books and edited a wide range of poetry and short story collections. His academic texts include Young Readers and their Books, and he has published collections of his own plays, poems, picture books and short stories. He has also made numerous television and radio appearances.

In 2004 Gervase Phinn was honoured to receive ‘The Speaker of the Year Award’ from the Association of Speakers’ Clubs and his most recent book, Up and Down in the Dales, won the Customer Choice Award at the Spoken Book Awards.

A Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) from the universities of Hull and Leicester, a Doctor of the University (D.Univ) of Sheffield Hallam University, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Honorary Fellow of the English Speaking Board and Fellow of St John’s College, he is now a freelance lecturer and adviser, in constant demand as a speaker throughout the country.

A.N. Wilson

A.N Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has held a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism.

An award-winning biographer, he has written lives of Sir Walter Scott (John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Tolstoy (Whitbread Award for Biography), C.S. Lewis, Hilaire Belloc, and, most recently, Iris Murdoch. In 1992 he caused a sensation with his bestselling Jesus and this he followed up with his equally controversial Paul. The Victorians, his study of the Victorian age, was published in 2002 to massive critical acclaim. He is also a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his fiction. He lives in North London.

Picture courtesy of Magali Delporte

Lord Wilson of Dinton

Lord (Richard) Wilson (64) was born in Glamorgan and educated at Radley (1956-60) and Clare College Cambridge (1961-65). He was called to the Bar but, rather than practice, entered the Civil Service as an assistant principal in the Board of Trade in 1966.

He subsequently served in a number of departments including 12 years in the Department of Energy where his responsibilities included nuclear power policy, the privatisation of Britoil, personnel and finance. He headed the Economic Secretariat in the Cabinet Office under Mrs Thatcher from 1987-90 and after two years in the Treasury was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Department of the Environment in 1992. He became Permanent Under Secretary of the Home Office in 1994 and Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service in January 1998. Since his retirement in September 2002 he has been Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and has been President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development from 2004 – 2006.

Education Panellists:

Sir Eric Anderson

Eric Anderson is Provost of Eton, the resident chairman of governors, after a career as a teacher and headmaster. He taught English at Fettes and Gordonstoun before becoming headmaster, successively, of Abingdon, Shrewsbury and Eton and Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.

For six years he was a Trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund, for three of them as chairman; he is Chairman of trustees at Cumberland Lodge, Visitor of Harris-Manchester College, a Trustee of the Farmington Trust and a Trustee of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

His enthusiasms are Shakespeare and Scott, whose Journal he edited for the OUP, golf and fishing. He has six grand-children (in the process of being educated!).

Gareth Mills

Gareth Mills is leader of the Curriculum Development & Implementation team at the QCA. The QCA is committed to developing a modern, world-class curriculum that inspires and challenges all learners and prepares them for the future. The Curriculum Development & Implementation team are engaging with the education community in the development of thinking around a future curriculum; they are also promoting innovation, thinking and practice that enhances curriculum in schools and settings.

Gareth began his career as an art teacher. After 13 years teaching he became an advisor for ICT. Later, as a school improvement advisor and inspector, he helped set-up and run a successful LEA in West London. In 2002 he became the principal consultant for ICT at QCA, from 2004 led the Futures, innovation and e-learning programme and has recently moved to his current role.

Dr Kate Pretty

Dr Kate Pretty is Principal of Homerton College and a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. She is a distinguished archaeologist by profession, and has worked at Cambridge for over 30 years.

She became Principal of Homerton College in 1991. Homerton College is one of the largest University colleges. It traces its roots back to late 17th century London but has been in Cambridge since 1894, specialising in the training and education of teachers. From 2001, the College has changed, taking students for almost all subjects studied at Cambridge and developing as a centre for education and research

As Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Dr Pretty's primary responsibility is the development of the University's international strategy, bringing together a great diversity of international scholarship and activity so that there can be a coherent response to both global competition and to new opportunities for collaboration and capacity building overseas.

Ralph Tabberer

Ralph Tabberer is Director General of Schools at the DfES and holds lead responsibility for the implementation of government policy for schools.

Ralph’s career in education has taken him through teaching in West London, research at the National Foundation for Educational Research and local authority service with West Sussex. He joined the Department for Education and Employment in 1997, to work with Michael Barber in the Standards and Effectiveness Unit, and then was appointed Chief Executive of the Teacher Training Agency in 2000. At the TTA, he engineered a turnaround in teacher recruitment which saw the profession move to become the top choice for graduates in the labour market.

The TTA’s successes led to an expanded remit for the agency and its emergence as, today, the Training and Development Agency for Schools, overseeing a broad agenda of workforce reform. Ralph rejoined the DfES to take up his current post, in March 2006.

Ralph’s prime interest is in the effective implementation of measures to raise pupil achievement but he has also been an active champion of the children’s agenda, the use of new technology and the importance of the wider school team.