Janet McGiffin

Janet McGiffin divides her time between Manhattan, Washington State, and Athens, Greece. She was born in Fairfield, Iowa into a newspaper family and learned to write copy as a teenager by writing obituaries for the Ellensburg Daily Record in Washington state. After university, she worked for the Milwaukee Health Department where she gained first-hand knowledge for her best-selling mystery series published by Fawcett Press, NY, featuring Doctor Maxine St. Clair, an ER doctor in an inner-city hospital. She worked as a press officer for the Washington state senate, then moved to Athens, Greece where she wrote grant proposals for small non-profit women’s organizations in Mediterranean countries. She also wrote a humor column for the Athens News newspaper with field archaeologist Adrian Vrettos, wrote two English language easy readers for Cambridge University Press, UK, and a series of hiking articles for greecetravel.com. She researched her Byzantine-era Empress Irini Series through extensive travel in Greece, followed by six months of research at the Bodleian libraries in Oxford, England. She enjoys hiking in Greece, England, Wales, and Scotland.

Harry Pizzey is a set and costume designer based between Cardiff and London. After studying architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture he went on to graduate from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with a master’s degree in Design for Performance in 2019. In the same year he was also a finalist for the Linbury Prize for Stage Design working with Birmingham Royal Ballet as part of the competition. Whilst studying he collaborated with director, Polly Graham to design Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers at the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff. He is a creative associate of the Watermill Theatre and credits there include the recent stage adaptation of Brief Encounter. He has worked with companies such as English Touring Opera, Longborough Festival Opera and Gothic Opera and enjoys making work across a range of disciplines including opera, animation and installation. This is his first book illustration commission.