Tobias Druitt is the pseudonym for Diane Purkiss and her son, Michael Dowling. Diane is Tutor in English at Keble College, Oxford, and the first Oxford English Faculty member since C S Lewis and JR R Tolkien to publish a children's book. Her key academic interests are classical literature, and women in literature. Her co-author, Michael, is ten years old and one of the stars of the Channel 4 documentary: Child Genius, coming out in January. They live in Oxford.