Clive Gifford, former soccer coach and lifelong fan, is an award-winning writer for children whose first book was published at the age of seventeen. He has written over 80 non-fiction books including Robots (Carlton), Spies (Carlton), The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia, and the bestselling Kingfisher Soccer Encyclopedia. He has received commendations from PBS and the Smithsonian Museum and received a Times Educational Supplement Information Book of the Year award.