Julian Leatherdale's first love was theatre. On graduation, he wrote lyrics for four satirical cabarets and a two-act musical. He discovered a passion for popular history as a staff writer, researcher and photo editor for Time-Life's Australians At War series. He later researched and co-wrote two Film Australia-ABC documentaries, Return to Sandakan and The Forgotten Force, and was an image researcher at the State Library of New South Wales. He was the public relations manager for a hotel school in the Blue Mountains, where he lives with his wife and two children. Palace of Tears is his first novel.
Ming-Zhu Hii has been a professional voiceover artist and performer for over 12 years and has worked extensively with many major and boutique brands, across all forms of media. Ming-Zhu is known for appearing in The Heartbreak tour and Party Tricks and is also the co-director of The Public Studio, an experimental and narrative production company who work across film, video and live performance.