Author 

Subcategories

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  Anne Adeney

  Anne Adeney is well known for her educational wooden toys and more recently for her children's writing. Some of the published credits of Anne Adeney include The Biggest Bible Storybook and Five Teddy Bears (Tadpoles). In 1997 she was short-listed for the Fidler Award, for the best new children`s novelist.

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  Allan Ahlberg

  Allan Ahlberg had many other jobs before he achieved his ambition of becoming a writer. Allan created award-winning picture books such as Each Peach Pear Plum and The Jolly Postman, both of which were winners of the Kate Greenaway Medal. Allan Ahlberg has published over 100 children’s books with his late wife Janet Ahlberg.

  Peepo! Peepo!, one of Allan’s famous children’s books was set in wartime, which made the publisher very nervous. There was a concern that little children would not make sense of things such as barrage balloons that were in the illustrations but not in the story.

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  Alice Alfonsi

  Alice Alfonsi, aka Cleo Coyle, collaborated with her husband Marc Cerasini in writing the Coffeehouse Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. This series of cozy mysteries is set in and around a fictional coffeehouse in the Greenwich Village neighbourhood of New York City. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Alice Alfonsi worked as a journalist and book author in New York. She was the ghostwriter for Hidden Passions, a novel based on the off-beat, then-NBC soap opera Passions.

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  Britt Allcroft

  Hilary Mary Allcroft, or best known as Britt Allcroft is an English film, television and live theatre producer, writer, director and voice actress. She is the creator of the children’s television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, later re-titled Thomas & Friends. The series’ success in the UK, and the merchandising campaign that Allcroft had been organising since 1983, soon led to further success in other parts of the world.

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  Catherine Anholt

  Catherine Anholt works in studios above the sea in Devon, South West England. It was in this rural setting that Catherine's creativity took root. From a very early age, she began to work freely in highly colourful sketchbooks, a habit which has remained unbroken to the present day. Over the last 25 years, the Anholts have written and illustrated more than 200 highly successful children’s books, which are published in 30 languages around the world and have won numerous awards. Catherine Anholt is well known for the book All about You.

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  Althea

  Althea started by writing and illustrating fiction, mainly animal stories. When her son was born, she realised there was a lack of factual books for young children. However, this was in the early seventies, and much has changed since then.

  Some of her books are written to explain new or difficult situations to children. The books were researched with children as well as experts, but written from the children's point of view. Books written by Althea include Feeling Sad, Feeling Scared, Desmond the Dinosaur and Telling the Truth.

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  Heather Amery

  Heather Amery is a published adapter, author, compiler, editor and narrator of children's books. Some of Heather Amery published credits include First Hundred Words in Chinese: Internet Linked (First Hundred Words), First Hundred Words Coloring Book (First Hundred Words), Wind-up Train Book (Wind-Up Books), and First Thousand Words in Polish. 

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  Hans Christian Andersen

  Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. His most famous fairy tales include "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Little Mermaid", "The Nightingale", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Little Match Girl" and "Thumbelina".

  Hans Christian Andersen's initial attempts at writing fairy tales were revisions of stories that he heard as a child. These collections broke new ground in both style and content. A real innovator in his method of telling tales, Hans Christian Andersen used the idioms and constructions of the spoken language, thus breaking with literary tradition. He combined his natural storytelling abilities and great imaginative power with universal elements of folk legend to produce a body of fairy tales that relates to many cultures.

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  Christopher Awdry

  Christopher Awdry is an English author known for his contributions to The Railway Series of books featuring Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas the Tank Engine was first started by his father, Rev W. Awdry. He has also produced children’s books based on a number of other railways as well as non-fiction articles and books on heritage railways. When his father retired in 1972, he wrote several Thomas books himself. The series came to be called Thomas & Friends after that. The new interest from the publishers has gone beyond merely re-releasing the existing books. Christopher Awdry has written a new book for the series, titled Thomas and Victoria, which focuses on stories relating to the railway preservation movement.

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  Brenda Apsley

  Brenda Apsley is an experienced writer and editor involved in all aspects of the publishing process, from the creation and development of original ideas and concepts through to writing and project management. Her range of children’s books is varied, including first books for babies, educational series for young learners, bath, novelty, sticker and storybooks, plus licensed annuals and teen novels; what all have in common is the effective communication of innovative and inspirational ideas.

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  Nicola Baxter

  Nicola Baxter is an English children’s writer. She has rewritten many fairy tales. She also has written some non-fiction books.

  Nicola Baxter has written or compiled over three hundred titles. She has developed ideas for a variety of international publishers and particularly enjoys the marriage of words and pictures that books entail. Geoff Ball's vibrant, colourful illustrations bring the delightful characters in these books to life.

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  David Bedford

  David Bedford is an acclaimed author of over 70 books for children. He also has an international reputation as a speaker, creative writing tutor and nurturer of children's reading.

  David Bedford's best-selling children's books include the Big Bear, Little Bear, Mole's In Love and Roo the Roaring Dinosaur. David's books have been translated in more than 35 countries around the world, from Iceland to Australia, Brazil to Thailand.

  David Bedford regularly visits schools to motivate children to read, and teach story-writing techniques to children and adults (usually teachers).

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  Camilla de la Bedoyere

  Camilla de la Bédoyère has written more than 200 non-fiction books, specializing in the natural world. Most of Camilla's books are written for children and young adults, but she has also covered diverse topics for adults, such as Art Deco and a biography of the famous primatologist Dian Fossey. Camilla is the Children's Editor for the Sunday Express, a national UK newspaper.

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  A.H. Benjamin

  A.H. Benjamin has been a children's writer since the mid-eighties with more than 30 titles to his credit. He has been published by Andersen Press, Oxford University Press, Little Tiger Press, Franklin Watts, Q.E.D and many other big publishing houses. His books are very popular in schools and libraries and have been translated into 22 languages including Chinese, Korean, Turkish, Greek and Arabic. Some of his work has been adapted for radio, television and theatre.

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  Betty G. Birney

  Betty G. Birney worked at Disneyland for quite some time. She is a prolific writer for film, television and children's picture books and novels. She has written several children’s television shows and is the author of over twenty-five books. She is most famous for the series World According to Humphrey. The series won the Richard and Judy Children’s Book Club.

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  Adam Blade

  Adam Blade was fascinated by the ancient sword and shield that hung in his father’s office. He grew up surrounded by his father’s paintings of historic English battles – which left a lifelong mark on his imagination. Adam’s father said they were a Blade family heirloom. The Beast Quest and Sea Quest series are most of Blade’s famous writing. Due to the high popularity, there are around 78 books of Beast Quest series that had been published by the middle of 2013.

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  Benedict Blathwayt

  Benedict Blathwayt has written and illustrated fifteen titles for Random House, of which the Little Red Train series and Dinosaur Chase have become extremely popular. Benedict Blathwayt started as a painter working from his own studio at the age of seventeen and held a number of successful exhibitions. Since then, he has worked in the Hebrides as a dairyman (which accounts for his wonderful character, Bramble the cow and for the Scottish scenery in Little House by the Sea) and in Wales as a wildlife artist for Nature Conservancy. His most successful and best known books tell of the adventures of the Little Red Train. There are now five picture story books as well as board books about the train which, driven by Duffy Driver, has a great many fans amongst young readers. Children love the narrative detail in his pictures.

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  Brown Watson

  Brown Watson is an independent, family run business that was formed in 1980. Specialising in publishing mass-market children’s books, they have earned an international reputation for quality, reliability and service to their customers.

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  Anthony Browne

  Anthony Edward Tudor Browne is a British writer and illustrator of children’s books, primarily picture books, with fifty titles to his name. Browne’s debut book both as a writer and illustrator was Through the Magic Mirror in 1976.

  A Walk in the Park in the following year gained a cult following and Bear Hunt was more successful commercially. Gorilla has become his breakthrough, published by Julia MacRae in 1983, based on his greeting cards. He was a highly commended runner-up for an edition of Alice in Wonderland and he won the 1992 Medal for Zoo. Gorillas are frequently featured in Browne’s books as he is said to be fascinated by them.

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  Andy Blackford

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  Enid Blyton

  Enid Blyton (Enid Mary Blyton Pollock Darrell Waters) was one of the world’s best-loved children’s authors. She published more than 700 titles and sells over 700,000 children’s books in the UK, annually. Enid Blyton wrote on a wide range of topics including education, natural history, fantasy, mystery and biblical narratives. Her stories, which include The Famous Five, The Magic Faraway Tree, Malory Towers, St Clare’s, The Wishing Chair and Amelia Jane series, remain timeless classics.

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  Tony Bradman

  Tony Bradman is an English writer of children's books and short speculative fiction. He is best known for the Dilly the Dinosaur book series.

  He started reading children’s books to his children, so it was a natural progression for him to review children’s books as well. He began to write his own books soon after that and he hasn’t stopped since. His books cater to children of all ages, from babies to teenagers. Highlights include Dilly The Dinosaur, a series about the world’s naughtiest dinosaur who also appears in Dilly And The Goody Goody, and The Perfect Baby, a picture book Tony wrote for two of his grandchildren.

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  Ann Braybrooks

  Ann Braybrooks is a children’s book author whose work includes adaptations of Disney movies as well as stories featuring Winnie the Pooh and Barbie.

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  Ann Bryant

  Ann Bryant is an author who is popular for the series Ballerina Dreams and School Friends.

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  Nick Butterworth

  Nick Butterworth is a British children’s author and illustrator. His creations include several books about Percy the Park Keeper, the first of which was entitled One Snowy Night in 1990. Percy also appeared in his own animated television series.

  Nick Butterworth is a founding partner, with his son Ben, of Snapper Productions, producers of the CBeebies animated series Q Pootle 5. He is the executive producer of the series. He became a freelance graphic designer in partnership with fellow long-standing friend and children's writer and illustrator, Mick Inkpen. Their published collaborations include Just Like Jasper, Jasper's Beanstalk, The Sports Day, The Nativity Play and Wonderful Earth.

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  Cartoon Network

  Cartoon Network is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros Entertainment. Primarily, the channel broadcasts animated television series, mostly children’s programming, ranging from action to animated comedy. Cartoon Network Books was launched in the summer of 2015 as the official imprint for children’s books based on Cartoon Network’s original programming. The imprint includes titles from hit shows such as Adventure Time, Regular Show, The Amazing World of Gumball, Steven Universe and Uncle Grandpa.

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  Anne Cassidy

  Anne Cassidy is a British writer best known for her crime fiction for young adults. She began writing in 1989 and published her first book Big Girls' Shoes in 1991. The author of several teen thrillers in the "East End Murders" series as well as other young-adult novels is known for their troubled protagonists and compelling plots. Based on an actual incident that attracted worldwide attention—the murder of a young toddler by two ten-year-old British boys—Looking for JJ introduces another ten-year-old.

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  Cathy Cassidy

  Cathy Cassidy first picture book was written for her little brother when she was eight. She has written 30 books and several e-books. She has also been the agony aunt for Shout, a magazine for teenage girls. Currently, she has a series of four books about Daizy Star for younger readers and a series of books for older readers called the Chocolate Box Girls. The Daizy Star series mainly focuses on young adults.

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  Catherine Chambers

  This author loves books and worked in publishing as an editor. Catherine has written both fiction and nonfiction children’s books. She really enjoys writing biographies and about history and geography. She likes to turn everything into a story. Her other interests include trying to learn languages and visiting art galleries. Books written by Chambers include Dinosaur Hunters, Ape Adventures and School Days around the World.

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  Carlo Collodi

  Carlo Callodi, born Carlo Lorenzini, was an Italian author, humourist, and journalist. He was known for his fairy tale novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. Lorenzini became fascinated by the idea of using an amiable, rascally character as a means of expressing his own convictions through allegory. He began writing Pinocchio, which was published weekly in the first Italian newspaper for children. Disney adapted the tale into a film on 1940. This story is considered one of Disney’s greatest.

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  Andrew Cope

  English children’s books author, Andrew Cope, has written book series such as Spy Dog, Spy Pups and Spy Cat. He wrote his first book in 2005. He wrote the first Spy Dog book with such enthusiasm that it just came out in 1 long sentence. He has always described himself as an accidental author. The idea for Spy Dog came after watching a James Bond film. He has also written a book aimed at teenagers called A Brilliant Life.

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  Lauren Child

  Lauren Child (born Helen Child) is an English children's author and illustrator. She is known for her book series, such as the Charlie and Lola picture books, the Clarice Bean series and the Ruby Redfort novel series.

  Lauren Child introduced Charlie and Lola in 2000 with I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato. She won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association for the year's most "distinguished illustration in a book for children".

  Charlie and Lola is a series of picture books by Lauren Child for children aged from two to five years. It is now a children's TV show. Clarice Bean is also a picture book and novel series by Lauren Child that is for children/young teenagers. Lauren Child signed a new six-book deal with HarperCollins for the release of her "Ruby Redfort" series in 2009. Ruby Redfort, undercover agent and mystery solver, is familiar to Lauren's readers as Clarice Bean's favourite literary character.

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  Caroline Jayne Church

  Caroline Jayne Church's picture books have been published in eight languages. She is a bestselling author and illustrator. Her illustrations can be found in advertising, paper products, packaging, character creation and card designs. Some of her bestselling titles include I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak, How Do I Love You? by Marion Dane Bauer, You Are My Sunshine by Jimmie Davis and Good Night, I Love You.

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  Anna Claybourne

  Anna Claybourne is the author of numerous books on the natural world for younger readers, including the Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of Planet Earth, Cheetah: Natural World Series, the Survival Skills Handbook and many more. She started her career at Usborne Publishing in 1993 as a trainee staff writer and became a self-employed freelance writer and editor three years later. She writes on almost any subject but specialises in science and nature, and has written many children's books on wild animals (especially predators), volcanoes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. Her interest in these topics made researching and writing 100 Most Dangerous Things on the Planet a particularly fascinating experience. Anna has travelled widely and in 2002, she experienced the eruption of the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica at first hand, as well as seeing some of the animals mentioned in the book.

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  Babette Cole

  Babette Cole was an English children’s writer and illustrator. As a children’s writer, Cole created more than 150 picture books. Her best-seller, Doctor Dog, has been adapted as a successful children’s cartoon series. Much of her work is earthy comedy, having titles such as The Smelly Book, The Hairy Book, The Slimy Book and The Silly Book.

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  Lucy Cousins

  Elizabeth Lucy Cousins is an English author and illustrator of children’s books. She is best known for her books featuring Maisy Mouse.

  She has also published other children’s books, such as Jazzy in the Jungle and one about Noah’s Ark. Lucy Cousins' work, especially Maisy, is a successful publishing brand with books printed in 27 different languages and over 27 million copies of her books in print.

  Lucy finds that illustration comes more easily to her than writing, which tends to work around the drawings.

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  Julia Donaldson

  Julia Donaldson is best known for her popular rhyming stories for children, especially those illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which include The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Stick Man. She is an excellent linguist. The Gruffalo (1999) was inspired by a Chinese story about a little girl who escapes being eaten by a tiger by claiming to be the formidable Queen of the Jungle.

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  Roald Dahl

  Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter and fighter pilot. He went to school in Repton, Derby, Derbyshire, England. Pupils were invited to trial chocolate bars, a memory that stayed with Roald Dahl throughout his life, which led to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory being born.

  Roald Dahl’s books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. He was also the author of Matilda, The BFG, and a treasury of original, evergreen and beloved children’s books. Roald Dahl also had a successful parallel career as the writer of macabre adult short stories, which often blended humour and innocence with surprising plot twists.

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  Audrey Daly

  Audrey Daly is a published author and an editor of children's books. Some of her published credits include Hansel and Gretel (Enchanted Tales S.), Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Favourite Tales), Jack and the Beanstalk (Favourite Tales) and Favorite Tales Hensel & Gretel.

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  Andrew Davenport

  Andrew Philip Davenport is an award-winning English producer, writer, composer, puppeteer and actor specialising in creating television and publishing for young children. He is famous for creating Teletubbies with Anne Wood and wrote all of the 365 episodes. He created In the Night Garden and wrote all of the 100 episodes.

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  Terry Deary

  William Terence Deary is a British children’s author of over 200 books, selling over 25 million copies in over 40 languages. He is best known as the writer of the Horrible Histories series.

  The Horrible Histories series of books is popular among children for their interesting details, vast information and humorous pictures and among adults for getting children interested in history. A cartoon series has been made of the series of books and was shown on CiTV in 2002. The Horrible Histories live-action comedy sketch show has been shown on CBBC since 2009.

  Terry Deary retired from writing children's books after 35 years in 2011.

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  Charles Dickens

  Charles Dickens is much loved for his great contribution to classic English literature. He was the quintessential Victorian author. His epic stories, vivid characters and exhaustive depiction of contemporary life are unforgettable. Like many others, he began his literary career as a journalist. With new contacts in the press, he was able to push a series of sketches under the pseudonym Boz. As well as a huge list of novels he published an autobiography, edited weekly periodicals including 'Household Words' and 'All Year Round', wrote travel books and administered charitable organisations. He was also a theatre enthusiast, wrote plays and performed before Queen Victoria in 1851.

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  Chris D'Lacey

  Chris D’Lacey is a writer of children’s fiction. His best-known book is the Last Dragon Chronicles. He has also written many other books including A Dark Inheritance. Originally, his writing was confined to songs and he didn't turn to fiction until he was 32. His first children's novel, Fly, Cherokee, Fly, was published in 1998 and subsequently shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. It was inspired by the time he found an injured pigeon in Victoria Park and nursed it back to health at home.

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  Alan Durant

  Alan Durant work consists mainly of picture books, teenage thrillers and poetry for children of all ages such as Dear Tooth Fairy and Dear Father Christmas.  His first book, the young adult novel Hamlet, Bananas and all that Jazz, was published in 1991. Alan has since written more than 40 more books. A BBC schools programme in the English Express series, featuring Alan and his football stories, won a Children’s BAFTA award. Alan Durant does most of his writing in a shed at the bottom of his garden.

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  Disney

  Disney was an innovative animator and created the cartoon character Mickey Mouse. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons.

  Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. With his brother, Roy, Walt Disney set up another company and sought to find a distributor for his new film – Alice Comedies – based on the adventures of Alice in Wonderland.

  In 1933, Disney developed his most successful cartoon of all time The Three Little Pigs. In 1924, Walt Disney began his most ambitious project to date. He wished to make a full-length animated feature film of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Many expected it to be a commercial failure. However, using new techniques of filming, the production was met with glowing reviews.

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  Anne Fine

  Anne Fine is an English writer, best known for children's books although she also writes for adults. Anne writes in absolute silence apart from her own curses and mutters. She never lets herself be hurried to finish anything too fast and she believes that is why so many of her books have won prizes in the UK and abroad.

  Anne Fine’s novel, Goggle-Eyes (1989), won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and Britain’s most coveted award for children’s literature, the Carnegie Medal. She won the Carnegie Medal again for Flour Babies (1992), which also won the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year Award.

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  Claire Freedman

  Claire Freedman is the author of over 40 books for young readers. She tried various genres before discovering a passion for children’s books. She is best-known for her award-winning Underpants series, which have sold over 2 million copies to date and has been published in 21 languages.

  Author Claire Freedman discovered that she had a knack for writing children's books while attending a local writing group in her native England. She began submitting short works to magazine publishers, and in 2001 graduated to children's books when her first picture-book text appeared in Where's Your Smile, Crocodile? and An Ark Full of Activities.

  Many of Claire Freedman's picture books utilize animal characters to tell very human stories. In Where's Your Smile, Crocodile? Freedman leaves Planet Earth altogether in Aliens Love Underpants!, a beginning reader that received the Richard & Judy Book Club Award in 2007.

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  Vivian French

  Vivian June Isoult French is a British writer of picture book texts, novels, plays, and non-fiction for children and young adults. She developed an attachment to words at school and later became an actor, then a storyteller. Vivian French finally became a writer of children's books. She has written The Tiara Club series of chapter books illustrated by Sarah Gibb which have sold more than three million copies. As well as writing storybooks for young children, Vivian French has written plays and poetry. She is the author of more than two hundred books.

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  Belinda Gallagher

  Belinda Gallagher is an editor. She’s also a published author of children’s books and young adult books. Some of the published books belonging to Belinda Gallagher include Nursery Treasury: Best-loved Nursery Rhymes, Fairytales and First Poems, Visual Factfinder – Rocks and Fossils (Visual Factfinder), 1000 Facts – Fossils, and Why Why Why Do Clocks Have Hands? (Why Why Why).

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  Anita Ganeri

  Anita Ganeri, the award-winning author of the series Horrible Geography, is an Indian author born in Calcutta, India. Anita’s family immigrated to Europe and she currently resides in West Yorkshire, England with her family. Anita Ganeri has published over 100 books. Her books include the Horrible Geography series, which won the Geographical Association Silver Award.

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  Clive Gifford

  Clive Gifford is a highly experienced journalist and author with over 180 books published and more than 800 features and stories written for adults and children. Books include the astonishing Dead or Alive, the creepy Book of Bad Things and the brain-mangling Think Again and Eye Benders.

  Clive Gifford has written over 80 non-fiction books including Robots, Spies, The Kingfisher Geography Encyclopedia, and The Kingfisher Book of Living Worlds. His books Cool Technology and Think Again! both won the School Library Association's Information Book Award. A contributor to Encyclopedia Britannica, Clive has travelled through more than 50 countries, interviewed famous scientists and sportspeople, ridden on the back of large robots and parachuted from an aircraft into a cabbage field by mistake.

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  Sue Graves

  Sue Graves has been a freelance children's author for many years and written over two hundred books for children. She writes fiction and non-fiction, plays and poetry across the age ranges.

  Sue Graves’ notable works include Tiger Has a Tantrum – A Book About Feeling Angry, Money Needs to Listen – A Book About Paying Attention, I Didn’t Do it! A Book About Telling the Truth and Elephant Learns to Share – A Book About Sharing. Most of Sue Graves’ books are about expression and feelings incorporated with animal representation.

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  Adam Hargreaves

  Adam Hargreaves, son of Roger Hargreaves, is an English author and illustrator. He taught himself to draw like his father for the first few years. Sketching out endless Mr. Men and creating characters of his own that might complement Mr. Happy, Mr. Nosey, Mr. Bump, Mr. Sneeze and Mr. Greedy. After 40 years, the Mr. Men and Little Miss characters remain a cultural phenomenon whose impact extends far beyond the nursery bookshelf.

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  Roger Hargreaves

  Roger Hargreaves was an English author and illustrator of children's books. He is perhaps best remembered for the Mr. Men series for very young readers.

  Accompanying the Mr. Men series, Roger Hargreaves published a series of Little Miss books with female characters. Each book in the original Mr. Men and Little Miss series introduced a different title character and his/her single dominant personality trait to convey a simple moral lesson.

  The first of the Mr. Men characters was apparently created when his son, Adam, asked him what a tickle looked like. Over the course of the 1970s, Roger Hargreaves produced 38 more Mr. Men and a number of other Mr. Men books. Roger Hargreaves died in 1988 and his son Adam took over the franchise.

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  Eric Hill

  Eric Gordon Hill was an English author and illustrator of children’s picture books, best known for his puppy character named Spot. He started writing about Spot the playful puppy in 1976 for his little son Christopher. In that first book, Spot was hiding behind little flaps which could be lifted by small children, an innovation which he devised.

  The success of his first bestselling lift-the-flap classic Where's Spot? in 1980 convinced him to become a full-time author. Eric Hill’s Spot books have been enjoyed by children around the world ever since, selling over 60 million copies worldwide in over sixty languages.

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  Cathy Hopkins

  Cathy Hopkins is an English author with over 60 published titles. In collaboration with cartoonist Gray Joliffe on a series of humour books, Hopkins started writing books in 1987. Titles written by her include the Mates, Dates series, the Truth, Dare, Kiss or Promise series, the Cinnamon Girl series and the Zodiac Girls and the Million Dollar Mates series. Her books mostly target teenagers.

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  Anthony Horowitz

  Anthony Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His work for young adult readers includes The Diamond Brothers series, the Alex Rider series and the Power of Five series. Anthony Horowitz's first book, The Sinister Secret of Frederick K Bower, was a humorous adventure for children. In 1983 the first of the Pentagram series, The Devil's Door-Bell, was released. This story saw Martin Hopkins battling an ancient evil that threatened the whole world. Only three of four remaining stories in the series were ever written: The Night of the Scorpion (1984), The Silver Citadel (1986) and Day of the Dragon (1986).

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  Shirley Hughes

  Shirley Hughes is an English author and illustrator who has written more than fifty books, selling more than 11.5 million copies. At Oxford, Hughes was encouraged to work in the picture book format and make lithographic illustrations. She was soon commissioned by book publisher William Collins, Sons to illustrate another writer's book. The first published book she both wrote and illustrated was Lucy & Tom's Day, which was made into a series of stories. She went on to write over fifty more stories, including Dogger (1977); the Alfie series (1977), featuring a young boy named Alfie and sometimes his sister Annie-Rose; and the Olly and Me series (1993). Hughes wrote her first novel in 2015, a young-adult book titled Hero on a Bicycle.

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  Roderick Hunt

  Roderick James Hunt is a British children’s author. He is famous for the series of the Magic Key, which was first written as a part of the Oxford Reading Tree in 1985 illustrated by Alex Brychta. The Magic Key books are used by over 80% of British primary schools to help children learn to read as well as schools in more than 120 other countries. In addition to The Magic Key, Roderick Hunt is also the author of the Read at Home and Wolf Hill series of stories, as well as many others.

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  Mick Inkpen

  Mick Inkpen is an English author and illustrator of children’s books. He is best known for his creation Kipper the Dog and Wibbly Pig. Mick Inkpen has won numerous awards worldwide including:

  • The British Book Award for Lullabyhullabaloo and Penguin Small
  • The Children's Book Award for Threadbear
  • The Parents and Munch Bunch Play and Learn Award
  • The Right Start Petit Filous Best Toy Award for Where, Oh Where is Kipper's Bear?
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  Dick King-Smith

  Ronald Gordon King-Smith was a prolific English writer of children's books, primarily using the pen name Dick King-Smith. His most famous book, The Sheep Pig, was turned into the film Babe. Once he started writing books for children, Dick found it hard to stop. Dick King-Smith has written over one hundred children’s books and at one point he was writing about eight every year. He wrote all of his first drafts in pen before typing them up on an old typewriter. 

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  Anita Jeram

  Anita is best known as an illustrator of children's storybooks, particularly the modern classic Guess How much I Love You, written by Sam McBratney. Soon after graduation she wrote her first book, Bill's Belly Button, which was published by Walker Books in 1991. Bill’s Belly Button is a fun story of friendship warmly conveyed through both the text and illustration (and even a little interesting fact). Guess How Much I Love You was shortlisted for the 1994 Kurt Maschler Award and is now one of the world’s best-selling picture books.

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  Allan Frewin Jones

  An English writer credited with more than 90 books for children and young adults. Allan Frewin Jones first book, The Mole and Beverly Miller was published in 1987 by Hodder Books. Since then, he has published children's and young adult books and stories in multiple genres, including fantasy, romance, and speculative fiction. Jones is a prolific author of novel series for young people. He was commissioned to write the first book of The Mystery Club series (published as written by non-existent author Fiona Kelly), after which he was given his own series, including The Hunter and Moon books, Dark Paths, the Little Sister books (As A F Jones), Talisman, Special Agents (under the pen name Sam Hutton), and the six-volume fantasy series The Faerie Path and Warrior Princess (both as Frewin Jones).

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  Annabel Karmel

  Annabel Karmel is the author of books on nutrition and cooking for babies, children and families. Her first book was The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, published in 1991. Karmel has since published 37 books on feeding babies, toddlers and families as well as eating in pregnancy and books on cooking with children. Karmel writes regularly for national newspapers and also contributes to Practical Parenting & Pregnancy, Prima Baby, BBC Good Food, Baby London, Surrey, Hampshire and Tesco's Baby Club.

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  Andrew Langley

  Andrew Langley has been writing books for children for more than twenty-five years. Born in Somerset, he spent four years working for Penguin Books before becoming a full-time writer and journalist. He is the author of Navigators: Rainforests. In a wide-ranging career that has seen him travel the world, his work has featured in national newspapers, magazines and on television. With the onset of multiple sclerosis, Andrew now lives a more sedentary lifestyle, creating his new adventures on paper. 'Mirror on the Soul' was his first Nathen Turner novel. The second novel featuring Nathen Turner, 'Dark Nights of the Soul', was released in 2016.

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  C.S. Lewis

  Clive Staples Lewis was a British writer and lay theologian. He is best known for his works of fiction, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain. The books that make up The Chronicles of Narnia have sold the most and have been popularised on stage, TV, radio, and cinema.

  C.S. Lewis also wrote several popular novels including the science fiction Space Trilogy for adults and the Narnia fantasies for children. Most deal implicitly with Christian themes such as sin, humanity's fall from grace and redemption. The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children and is considered a classic of children's literature. Written between 1949 and 1954, and illustrated by Pauline Baynes, the series is C.S. Lewis's most popular work, having sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages.

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  Arnold Lobel

  Arnold Stark Lobel was an American author of children’s books, including the Frog and Toad series and Mouse Soup. He wrote and illustrated those picture books and Fables. Lobel's writing and illustrations went through several phases in his career. His early works had a broad humour often in verse, a style that he returns to at other points in his career. The book Fables is composed of approximately 20 fables featuring animal protagonists. The book was praised for its ability to combine a cheerful (rather than moralistic tone) with an actual moral at the end of each story.

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  Anna McQuinn

  Anna McQuinn is the author of more than 20 books for children including Wanda's Washing Machine (Tiger Tales). She also works part-time as a librarian, running family book groups. Anna McQuinn is famous for the Lola series. The Lola book series by Anna McQuinn includes books Lulu Gets a Cat, Lulu Loves the Library, Lola Reads to Leo and several more.

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  Brian Knapp

  Brian Knapp is an independent author living in Lincoln, Nebraska. His style is his own take on brevity while leaving room for the imagination of the reader. Brian's books are meant to inspire and are cause for introspection.

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  Claire Llewellyn

  Claire Llewellyn has contributed to numerous book series enriching the knowledge of children in the United States and England and a prolific author of juvenile nonfiction. One of Claire Llewellyn's first books, My First Book of Time, was highly praised by reviewers for its enthusiastic and clear explanation of time zones, seasons, fractions and the history of timepieces.

  Claire Llewellyn is a prize-winning author of non-fiction for young readers. In 1991, she was shortlisted for the prestigious TES Junior Information Book Award for Take One: Rubbish; in 1992, she won that award for My First Book of Time.

  Other nonfiction books by Claire Llewellyn include The Big Book of Mummies: All about Preserved Bodies from Long Ago, Our Planet Earth, and Some Plants Grow in Midair: And Other Amazing Facts about Rainforests.

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  Angela McAllister

  Angela McAllister is the author of over 70 books for children and teens. She is famous for the Yuck! That’s Not a Monster and My Mum has X-Ray Vision. She has won awards for both of these books. Her picture book, Leon and the Place Between, has been adapted for the stage. She began her career as an illustrator, doing editorial work, poetry collections and cookery books. She started to write for children in the early eighties, illustrating her own books. Since then, she has written over 50 picture books and several junior fiction titles for children.

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  Alan MacDonald

  Alan MacDonald is the author of a number of books including Triffic Chocolate, the popular Dirty Bertie series. He started his working life in a travelling theatre company, visiting schools all over the country and writing much of their material. Alan later trained as a drama teacher at Nottingham University, but most of his work in connection with the theatre has been as a writer or director. The Sign of the Angel, Beware of the Bears and Pig in a Wig were also written by him.

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  Burton Marks

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  Ann M. Martin

  Ann Matthews Martin is an American children's fiction writer. She is known best for The Baby-Sitters Club series. The Baby-Sitters Club series is about a group of friends who live in the fictional, suburban town of Stoneybrook and run a local babysitting service.

  Ann M. Martin's The Baby-Sitters Club series has over 176 million copies in print worldwide and inspired a generation of young readers. Ann M. Martin finds the ideas for her books from many different sources: some are based on personal experiences while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many books cover contemporary problems and struggles. All of her characters, including the members of The Baby-Sitters Club, are fictional, but many of her characters are based on real people.

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  Andrew Matthews

  Andrew Matthews has written and illustrated books such as Being Happy, Making Friends and Follow Your Heart. He is one of the world’s most widely read self-help authors. Andrew is also a popular international speaker and he has addressed over 1,000 international corporations. Andrew's down-to-earth books - illustrated with his own cartoons - have gone global. "Being Happy!" and "Follow Your Heart" have become self-help classics, selling in 70 countries.

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  Anne McKie

  Anne McKie is a published author and an illustrator of children's books. Some of the published credits of Anne McKie include 50 Bedtime Stories, 500 Questions and Answers, My First Picture Book of Numbers (A Grandreams 'fun to Learn' Book), and My First Rhyming Picture ABC (A Grandreams 'fun to Learn' Book).

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  Daisy Meadows

  The four writers of the Rainbow Magic children’s series: Narinder Dhami, Sue Bently, Linda Chapman and Sue Mongredien decided on the pseudonym, Daisy Meadows. The Rainbow Magic series, targeting an audience of 6 to 8-year-old girls, recounts the adventures of best friends Kirsty Tate and Rachel Walker as they meet numerous Rainbow Magic fairies.  Each of the Rainbow Magic fairies comes with their own special talent. In each book, Kirsty and Rachel must come to the assistance of the titular fairy as the magical being finds herself at odds with Jack Frost and his mischievous goblins who are always looking to disrupt the fairies' (and the girls') fun.

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  A.A. Milne

  Alan Alexander Milne (A.A. Milne) was an English humorist and the originator of the popular stories of Christopher Robin and his toy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh. He also wrote various children’s poems. A.A. Milne and his wife Dorothy named their son Christopher Robin in 1920. In 1925, Gallery of Children was published. This collection of short stories included some stories that became part of the Winnie-the-Pooh books.

  The Winnie-the-Pooh books were inspired by Milne's son Christopher Robin and his stuffed animals. The name Winnie came from a black bear named Winnipeg who was a military mascot during World War I and later a resident of London Zoo. The name Pooh may have been added to 'Winnie' because the original bear smelled of … well you guessed it. 

  The book, “Winnie-The-Pooh”, was published in 1926, followed by “The House at Pooh Corner” in 1928. A second collection of nursery rhymes, “Now We Are Six”, was published in 1927. The last book of the full Winnie-The-Pooh set was “When We Were Very Young”.

  Sadly, A.A. Milne stopped writing children’s books once they became successful. He resented the fame his son was exposed to and later became estranged from him. Christopher Robin believed his father exploited his childhood at his expense.

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  Tony Mitton

  Tony Mitton has written many wonderful books for children including Dinosaurumpus!, Down by the Cool of the Pool, Spooky Hour, Farmer Joe and the Music Show, and All Afloat on Noah’s Boat.

  He divides his time between teaching and writing children's books. It was not until he was 40 that he began writing for children in earnest and it was in his late forties that Mitton gave up teaching altogether to concentrate full time on his writing. 

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  Ann Montague-Smith

  Ann Montague-Smith is a professor of early education at University College, Worcester, in the U.K. She was a primary school teacher before becoming an early education specialist in mathematics. Ann Montague-Smith was the series consultant for 100 Maths Lessons and 100 Maths Homework Activities. She has also contributed to the Learning in the Early Years series. She is a former Principal Lecturer in Primary Education, leader of a primary maths team and is now a well-established educational author.

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  Clement C. Moore

  Clement C. Moore was an American author. During his lifetime Moore wrote on a variety of subjects. Although most famous for Twas the Night Before Christmas, he also wrote other poetry, which was published in the Portfolio and similar periodicals.

  “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was first published anonymously in the Troy (New York) Sentinel on December 23, 1823. Clement C. Moore took credit for the work in 1844 after it appeared in his collection Poems. He claimed that he had written it to amuse his children for Christmas in 1822 and that, unknown to him, it had been copied and given to the Sentinel.

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  Michael Morpurgo

  Michael Morpurgo is one of Britain's best-loved writers for children. He has sold more than 35 million books around the world. Morpurgo is noted for his magical storytelling, for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider, survival and characters' relationships with nature. He is also known for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or World War I.

  Michael Morpurgo’s most popular books include:

  • Why the Whales Came (1985), which was made into a film starring Helen Mirren,
  • King of the Cloud Forests (1988), which won the Cercle D'Or Prix Sorciere (France),
  • My Friend Walter (1988) and Out of the Ashes (2001), which were both adapted for television, and
  • The Wreck of the Zanzibar (1995) which won the 1995 Whitbread Children's Book Award.

  He was knighted in 2018 for services to literature and charity.

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  Brian Moses

  Brian Moses is an English poet who mainly writes for children. He has over 200 published works and is well known as a children’s poet. Brian’s interests range from the familiar – shopping trolleys, football matches – to the peculiar – monsters, aliens and angels. Brian has a particularly sharp eye for surreal moments in daily life – the man in Walking with my Iguana, who walks his pet lizard on Hastings beach on a leash, is based on a real person.

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  Andrew Norriss

  Andrew Norriss writes engaging stories with a light touch of humour. Ordinary children find themselves in extraordinary situations, which make you think what if…? His books include The Unluckiest Boy in the World, Ctrl Z, I Don’t Believe It, Archie!, Archie’s Unbelievably Freaky Week and the Touchstone.

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  Amanda O'Neill

  Amanda O’Neill has written books on a wide range of subjects and wrote both I Wonder Why Spider Spin Webs, and Cats. She has worked in education since 1976. Amanda has also been a freelance writer and editor since 1986. The I Wonder Why book series by multiple authors aims to answer some of the frequently asked questions by children with topics including Science, Biography, Geography and History.

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  Aleksandr Orlov

  Aleksandr Orlov is a businessman, website creator, movie mogul, boss of Sergei and now a successful author. He comes from a long line of courageous meerkats originally from the Kalahari region. He is well known for A Simple Life. Aleksandr Orlov has become one of the most loved figures in British culture and his catchphrase - Simples! - can be heard from the playground to the office.

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  Chris Oxlade

  Chris Oxlade is an experienced author of informational books for children. He was trained in civil engineering and has written or contributed to titles on science, technology, sports and hobbies, from encyclopedia articles to fun activity books. Some of his well-known books are Kingfisher Readers: Flight and Kingfisher Readers: Firefighters. He is the best-selling author of more than 150 non-fiction books, most of them explaining complex scientific ideas and modern technology to young readers in readable text.

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  Steve Parker

  Steve Parker is a British science writer of children's and adult's books. He worked as an exhibition scientist at the Natural History Museum and as editor and managing editor at Dorling Kindersley Publishers. He also held the position of commissioning editor at medical periodical GP, before becoming a freelance writer in the late 1980s.

  Steve Parker's writing career began with 10 early titles in Dorling Kindersley's multi-award-winning Eyewitness series. He co-wrote The Complete Guide to Minerals, Rocks and Fossils of the World in 2009.

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  Caroline Pitcher

  Caroline Pitcher is the author of numerous children's books including the Carnegie Medal-nominated "Silkscreen," the Greenaway Award-nominated "The Green Garden" and the Children's Book Award-nominated "The Snow Whale. As a child, her interest in reading was encouraged by her mother and by some excellent teachers; she loved reading books about ‘nature’.  As well as reading, she enjoyed writing, which has always been an essential part of her life. She wrote her first novel just before becoming a mother and now enjoys writing for all age groups.  Her ideas for stories often come from places she has visited.

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  Beatrix Potter

  Beatrix Potter is best known for her children’s books featuring animals, such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Beatrix Potter was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist. She was also a student of the classic fairy tales of Western Europe. Her artistic and literary interests were deeply influenced by fairies, fairy tales and fantasy.

  Beatrix Potter’s pets were the fantasies for most of her illustrations. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published in 1902, was an immediate success. The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin and The Tailor of Gloucester followed and were also popular. Beatrix Potter’s books gained immense popularity, based on the lively quality of her illustrations.

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  Catherine Rayner

  Catherine Rayner grew up in the countryside of West Yorkshire. She has drawn animals ever since she could hold a pencil and her first pictures usually featured their family dog. She continues to finds huge inspiration in her pets and often uses them as models, frequently asking Ena to pose so that she can study her posture and movement. She translates these sketches of Ena into characters such as dragons, hares, moose and bears! But it was creatures of a wilder kind that inspired her first picture book, Augustus and His Smile. Catherine spent hours and hours watching and sketching tigers (in freezing temperatures) at Edinburgh Zoo. The success of her first book has led to Catherine writing an additional 15 books to date and illustrated stories for many other well-known authors.

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  Aneurin Rhys

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  Caroline Repchuk

  Caroline Repchuk was a student at Leeds University in fine arts. She is an editor at Templar Publishing. She is best known for her book titled the Snow Tree, which is recommended for nature lovers of all ages. Repchuk has also written Ballerina, the Race and several other books.

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  Chris Riddell

  Chris Riddell is a British illustrator, occasional writer of children’s books and a political cartoonist for the Observer. As a child, he admired the work of Sir John Tenniel, the first illustrator of Alice in Wonderland, and W. Heath Robinson. Riddell worked as an illustrator at The Economist news magazine from the 1980s and at The Observer newspaper from 1995. Riddell’s most notable work is The Edge of Chronicles, a children’s book series co-written with Paul Stewart and illustrated by Riddell. The book was set in a fictional world known as The Edge, the books have been praised for their beautifully detailed line drawings and the unique nature of their collaborative writing process.

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  Alison Ritchie

  Alison Ritchie was born in County Down in Northern Ireland. When she’s not illustrating children’s books, Alison spends most of her free time chasing her chickens out of the vegetable garden, brushing the cat and walking her dogs in the countryside. Alison Ritchie has published several children’s books. She works as a freelance editor and writer. She lives in a village in Oxfordshire with her two children and dog. Her famous works include Me and My Dad!, Me and My Mom! and Me and My Grandma!

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  Anne Rooney

  Anne Rooney has taught at the Universities of Cambridge and York, and has been a Royal Literary Fund Fellow and Lector. She writes books on science, technology, engineering and the history of science for children and adults, and has published around 200 books on a variety of subjects. She previously worked in the computer industry, and wrote and edited educational materials, often on aspects of science and computer technology. After a period of teaching medieval English and French literature at the universities of Cambridge and York, she left to pursue a career as a freelance writer.

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  Betty Root

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  Tony Ross

  Anthony Lee Ross is a British illustrator and author of children’s picture books. He is famous for the illustrations of the Horrid Henry series.

  His talent was acquired as a cartoonist and for many graphic designing jobs before becoming an art director at an advertising agency.

  Tony Ross’s first book was published in 1976 and he has also illustrated over 1000 books for authors such as Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Paula Danziger and Michael Palin, which are published all over the world.

  His series of books written with Jeanne Willis featuring the extraterrestrial teacher, Dr Xargle, has established a huge following of fans.

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  Angela Royston

  Angela Royston is interested in science as it helps her understand the world. Since Angela enjoys discovering new things, most of her writing is categorised as non-fiction books for primary and middle school children. Her children’s books include topics on the environment, animals and the human body as well as inventions and space travel. Angela Royston writes about these topics in a way that is both clear and accurate. Her books convey her own excitement and interest.

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  Angie Sage

  Angie Sage first studied medicine, but changed her mind and went to Art School in Leicester. She studied Graphic Design and Illustration and began illustrating books after college. Then she progressed to writing children stories, including toddler books and chapter books. Her first novel was Septimus Heap: Magyk. Septimus Heap is a series of fantasy novels featuring a protagonist of the same. It features seven novels, entitled Magyk, Flyte, Physik, Queste, Syren, Darke and Fyre. The series follows the adventures of Septimus Heap who, as a seventh son of a seventh son, has extraordinary magical powers.

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  Anna Sewell

  Anna Sewell was an English novelist, well known as the author of the children’s novel Black Beauty. Black Beauty is of the top ten best-selling novels for children ever written. While living in Old Catton, Sewell wrote the manuscript of Black Beauty in the period between 1871 and 1877. Although the book is now considered a children's classic, Sewell originally wrote it for those who worked with horses. She said, "a special aim was to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses". She dictated the text to her mother and from 1876 began to write on slips of paper which her mother then transcribed.

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  Beth Shoshan

  Beth Shosan never seemed destined to be a children’s writer after failing English Composition. But everything changed when she was challenged by Meadowside to write the most inappropriate children’s book imaginable – it should contain sweet explosions, and arcane English words. She did, and Smidge became an instant best-seller. Smidge is a cuddly little candy-chomping, colour changing, monster whose eyes are too big for his stomach but not for long.

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  Francesca Simon

  Francesca Simon has written over fifty books for children of all ages. She is one of the nation’s most popular authors. Francesca Simon was encouraged to start writing by reading so many books to her son Joshua. Many of Francesca’s stories have been inspired by real-life situations.

  Horrid Henry, one of Francesca’s most successful and irrepressible creations, first appeared in 1994. Horrid Henry has gone on to conquer the globe and his adventures are published in 27 languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Francesca Simon has been actively involved with many literacy charities and initiatives including Beanstalk, The Reading Agency, BookTrust’s Children’s Reading Fund and Storybook Dads and is a former trustee of World Book Day.

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  Charlie Small

  Charlie small is a keen amateur explorer. His interests include swinging through jungles, cooking for pirates and puppet skills. He also enjoys conversing in the secret language of the gorillas. His present whereabouts is unknown, but we understand that he’s hoping to be home in time for tea.

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  Ali Sparkes

  Ali Sparkes is a British children’s author. She is a journalist and BBC broadcaster who regularly exploits her sons, as an in-house focus group for her children’s novels. She was a local newspaper reporter and columnist before joining BBC Radio Solent as a producer and presenter. She grew up adoring adventure stories about kids who mess about in the woods and still likes to mess about in the woods herself whenever possible. Ali’s stories capture the imagination of children everywhere, and her novel Frozen in Time won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2010.

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  Andy Stanton

  Andy Joel Stanton is an English children’s books writer. His notable works are the Mr. Gum books published by Egmont. The nine books in this series include You’re a Bad Man, Mr. Gum!, Mr. Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire, Mr. Gum and the Goblins, Mr. Gum and the Power Crystals, Mr. Gum and the Dancing Bear, What’s for Dinner, Mr. Gum?, Mr. Gum and the Cherry Tree, Mr. Gum and the Secret Hideout, and Mr. Gum and the Hound of Lamonic Bibber. He has also worked as a film script reader, a cartoonist and an NHS lackey amongst other things. He has many interests, but cartoons, books and music are his favourite.

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  Joan Stimson

  Joan Stimson is a published adapter and an author of children’s books. Some of Joan Stimson’s published credits include Jake’s Cake (Reading Corner), Dan’s Gran’s Goat (Leapfrog), You’d Better Ask Basil!, and Big Panda, Little Panda. 

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  Jeremy Strong

  Jeremy Strong is an English writer credited with over 100 children’s books. He began his writing career by publishing his first book, Smith's Tail, a picture story for young children in 1978.

  Jeremy Strong’s story, There's A Viking In My Bed, was made into a BBC children's TV series. All of his books are humorous, and about real-life situations with a surreal edge.

  My Mum's Going to Explode (2001) is a tale of what happens when Nicholas' mother suddenly announces she is pregnant. Krazy Kow Saves the World - Well, Almost (2002) was named one of the 50 best children's books of the Year by the Federation of Children's Book Groups in 2003, the same honour being awarded to I'm Telling You, They're Aliens (2000) in 2001.

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  Barbara Taylor

  Barbara Taylor has been active in reading research and outreach to schools throughout her career as a professor at the University of Minnesota. In addition to developing the Early Intervention in Reading model, Taylor has published widely on reading comprehension, effective reading instruction and successful school-wide reading improvement in journals, including Reading Research Quarterly, Elementary School Journal and The Reading Teacher. In 2010, she was awarded the Oscar Causey Award for Distinguished Contributions to Reading Research from the National Reading Conference, the latest in a long line of awards.

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  Barrie Carson Turner

  Barrie Carson Turner is a musician and began his professional career as a teacher in a school for 11- to 18-year-olds. He became an editor for a music publishing company after he left his previous job. After a further five years, he left to follow a freelance career as a music arranger. He has arranged literally hundreds of music books over the years. He has also written about 40 children’s books (all in music).

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  Alison Uttley

  Born as Alice Jane Taylor, Alison Uttley, was an English writer of over 100 books. She is particularly known for a children’s series about a Little Grey Rabbit and Sam Pig. She began writing to support herself and her son financially after she was widowed. Her first books were a series of tales about animals, including Little Grey Rabbit, the Little Red Fox, Sam Pig and Hare.

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  An Vrombaut

  An Vrombaut is a picture book author and illustrator. She spent a lot of her time writing stories and drawing pictures of her pets and other animals such as giraffes. This Belgian-born English author is known for being the creator of 64 Zoo Lane. Vrombaut published ten books in the early 2000s. Her book series include 64 Zoo Lane, Dear Dragon and Clarabella.

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  Martin Waddell

  Martin Waddell is an Irish writer of children’s books. He is known best for the texts of picture books that feature anthropomorphic animals, such as the Little Bear series illustrated by Barbara Firth.

  Martin Waddell has never shied from writing about difficult situations that children sometimes have to deal with. This was never more so reflected in his books 'Starry Night', 'Frankie's Story' and 'The Beat of the Drum' which addressed the difficulties, anger and grief attributed to the political troubles in Northern Ireland from a teenager's perspective.

  Martin Waddell also enjoys writing about ghosts, as he says not only are they fun they can also show how the past can affect the future.

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  Ian Whybrow

  Ian Whybrow has been a productive writer of children's books since his debut in 1989. His books are known for their humour and child-friendliness. They range from picture books to novels, short stories and poetry.

  Subsequently, Ian Whybrow was able to give up teaching to write full-time. His series of books about Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs, illustrated by Adrian Reynolds, has become huge and well-known. Other popular characters that have featured in his series of books include Little Wolf, Miss Wire and Sissy Buttons. However, Harry who has spawned the most books by far. Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs series has been adapted into a 104-episode animated television series with a slightly different name.

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  Angela Wilkes

  Angela Wilkes is renowned for her lively, engaging books that children read over and over again including The Big Book of Dinosaurs and several books in the Question Time series. She excels in presenting information in an original and straightforward way.

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  Brian Williams

  Author Brian Williams is a former teacher and history writer of more than 200 books for children. Brian Williams has wide experience in international publishing as a writer, editor and consultant. He is a long-term Pitkin heritage author, with titles including several in the History of Britain series, military and politics.

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  Jeanne Willis

  Jeanna Willis is an author of several children’s books including The Monster Bed, the Dr. Xargle’s Book of… series and Shamanka. Her first picture book was published by Andersen Press when she was 21. Since then, she has won the Silver Medal Smarties Prize (Tadpole's Promise), the Nasen Special Needs Award (Susan Laughs), the Sheffield Children's Book Award (Who's in The Loo) and the Red House Children's Book Award (Bottoms Up).

  Jeanne Willis has also worked on scripts for TV, including Polly Pocket and The Slow Norris, and a pilot TV series for Dr Xargle.

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  Jacqueline Wilson

  Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine. She filled in countless Woolworths’ exercise books as she grew up and always wanted to be a writer.

  Jacqueline Wilson started working for a magazine publishing company as a teenager and then went on to work as a journalist for Jackie before writing novels full-time. One of Jacqueline’s most successful and enduring creations has been the famous Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in 1991 in The Story of Tracy Beaker. This was also the first of her books to be illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Jacqueline Wilson is one of the nation’s favourite authors and her books are loved and cherished by young readers not only in the UK but all over the world.

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  Chris Wormell

  Chris Wormell is a self-taught artist. Trying to consolidate Chris’ illustration work is a difficult task. He works using two main methods, wood engraving and linocut, as well as writing and illustrating his own children’s books. Chris excels in every area of illustration and has become one of the finest illustrators in Britain today. He has been charmingly modest with The Artworks since the mid-1980’s and continues to pave the way in his field and to be a true ambassador for the craft of illustration. He has published some 14 illustrated books and illustrated others' work on at least 18 other publications. His work has also been published on greeting cards and he designed the artwork for a series of advertisements for Adnams, a regional brewer based in Suffolk.