JOAN AIKEN was born in Sussex in 1924. She wrote over a hundred books for young readers and adults and is recognized as one of the classic authors of the 20 century. Her best-known books are those in the James III saga, of which the Lewis Carroll prize-winning The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was the first title. Throughout her lifetime she received the Edgar Allan Poe Award in the United States, the Guardian Award for Fiction for The Whispering Mountain, and was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999 for her services to children's books. She died in 2004.