Tom Pow – författare

In one of the great defining moments in human history, more people now live in cities than in rural areas, and the effects of this depopulation and the plummeting birthrate are being felt keenly throughout Europe, which has the fastest-declining population in the world. Tom Pow sets out to explore what this means in some of the most rapidly vanishing areas of Europe. From Spain to Russia, he uses the tools of his trade - travelogue, essay, story and poem - to make connections, not only with what he encounters in numerous dying villages, but to reflect on his own experiences of memory, identity and loss. In Another World is an open book: not an argument, but an invitation to remember, to reflect and to engage with one of the most significant social issues affecting Europe today.

When the Rains Come is a lively story for children that highlights some of the challenges facing Malawi and how they are being met, simultaneously drawing on the folk tales of the country. It will be a response from the writer and illustrator to the situation in Malawi with the aim of raising money for MUMs'' work and raising awareness among children and adults everywhere.

Even in his wildest nightmares, Martin could never have predicted what would happen when his family sign up for two day's trekking in the National Park during their holiday on the beautiful island of Santa Clara. They've barely set off when their car is waylaid and Martin, his parents and another family are stopped at gunpoint and bundled into a lorry that heads for the dense forest. The captives are pushed to their physical and emotional limits as they are forced further into the wild terrain, away from any possible rescue. But during their ordeal, the hostages come to understand something of the harsh political backdrop to life on Santa Clara, and the events that have shaped the lives of their captors and fuelled their actions. Martin discovers deep feelings for Louise, the other teenager caught up in the nightmare, only to have to watch her growing love for Eduardo, the youngest hostage-taker.CAPTIVES is a wonderfully-written, deeply-engaging story about ten people thrown together under extraordinary circumstances and with devastating consequences - a story that will resonate with the reader long afterwards.

The first time Sam sees the mysterious figure of Janet she vanishes into the deserted fields beyond the town where nothing has ever been built. Sam learns that centuries before this was the place to which plague victims were banished - Scabbit Isle - a place of terror. With the help of Mr Carruthers, the old curator of the local museum, Sam gradually uncovers the horror of Janet's story - consigned to Scabbit Isle by her cruel father and abandoned by her weak lover, Janet suffers without hope. She will continue to do so, if she can't find someone who, for love, will risk all to enter the plague colony to release her. Janet seems to be beckoning Sam to help her and a tragedy within Sam's own family brings Sam even closer to Janet's fate. Janet is the same age that Sam's twin sister Alice would have been had she not been killed in an accident. It is a loss from which Sam's father, in particular,has never recovered. Can Sam summon up the courage to face the terrors of Scabbit Isle and, like Orpheus, venture into the underworld to bring Janet peace?

'Floris is all that keeps Victor in the human world, the only tenderness he allows in his heart. He will do all he can to find her and, if he doesn't, yes, he will die as a dog . . .'Bradley, Victor and Floris live with the dogs on the dark, forgotten edge of a segregated city. Haunted by memories and abandoned by society, they have learned to survive on their own. But when Floris is kidnapped the others must venture into the unknown to save their friend. It is a journey fraught with danger - violent gangs stalk the streets, and corrupt warlords viciously guard their territories. But it is also a journey of discovery . . .