Dave Cousins’ books have been hailed as ‘teen realism with action, humour and heart’. Published in over twelve languages across the world, 15 Days without a Head was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week, winner of the Premio Andersen in Italy, and the SCBWI Crystal Kite for the UK and Europe. Waiting for Gonzo won the Grampian Children’s Book Award and has its own original soundtrack album, complete with accompanying music videos! Both books were nominated for the Carnegie Medal.
Dave is also the author/illustrator of the Charlie Merrick’s Misfits series. When not creating stories in his attic, Dave travels extensively, visiting schools, libraries and book festivals across the UK and abroad. His events have been described as ‘stand-up with books’ or, as one year seven student put it, ‘Well funny!’
Website: www.davecousins.net
Twitter: @DaveCousins9000
Instagram: @DaveC9000
KATIE DALEAuthor and actress Katie Dale had her first poem ‘The Fate of The School Hamster’ published at age eight, and hasn’t stopped writing since! She studied English Literature at Sheffield University, followed by a crazy year at drama school, a summer playing Juliet in a national Shakespeare tour, and eight months backpacking through South East Asia – where she learned that she was a winner of the inaugural SCBWI Undiscovered Voices competition, which launched her writing career.
She has written for all ages, including a treasury of bedtime stories for toddlers, a series of rhyming Fairy Tale Twists for primary-age children, a middle grade comedy/drama Mumnesia, and two young adult novels. Someone Else’s Life, the story of a teenage girl who discovers she was switched at birth, won both the Brilliant Books Award and the Mad About Books Award and is now published all over the world. Little White Lies is a psychological thriller about a girl who changes her identity when she goes to university in pursuit of revenge, and won the UKYA bloggers’ award for ‘Best Ending’.
Katie happily visits schools all over the UK, and as far afield as Moscow!
Website: www.katiedaleuk.blogspot.com
Email: katiedaleauthor@hotmail.com
KEREN DAVIDKeren David was apprenticed as a reporter on a national newspaper at the age of nineteen and was an assistant news editor at The Independent eight years later. She moved to Amsterdam in 1999 and worked as editor in chief of a photojournalism agency. On her return to London in 2007 she started writing her first young adult book, When I was Joe, which was published in 2010.
When I Was Joe was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, shortlisted for the Branford Boase award and the UKLA award, and highly commended for the Teenage Booktrust Prize. It won five regional awards and was shortlisted for six more. It was followed by two sequels, Almost True (2010) and Another Life (2012).
Keren’s book Lia’s Guide to Winning the Lottery (2011) was also nominated for the Carnegie medal, and was one of Kirkus’s Best Teen Reads for 2012. Keren is adapting it as a musical with composer Paul Herbert and lyricist Lesley Ross. Salvage (2014) was shortlisted for the Bookseller’s YA Prize, and also for the YA section of the Romantic Novel of the Year. It was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for seven regional awards. Keren’s latest book is This is Not a Love Story, which has been longlisted for the UKLA book award and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Keren’s short story in Stories from The Edge, ‘The Day I Told the Truth’ is a prequel to This is Not a Love Story.
Website: www.kerendavid.com
Sara is a writer of multiple personalities! She writes fiction for young adults, teens and young readers. Her stories range from action-adventure in exotic locations to fairy godmothers in training and apocalyptic tales of survival and love. Chasing Danger, her new action-adventure series
Dark Parties, her first young adult novel, won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Europe. Her next teen novel, Half Lives, is a story told in two voices from a pre- and post-apocalyptic time. She also writes a funny magical series
Website: www.sara-grant.com
Twitter: @AuthorSaraGrant
MIRIAM HALAHMY
Miriam Halahmy lives in London
near Hampstead Heath and is married with two grown-up children and one grandson
who is teaching her how to swing through trees again. Miriam loves to write in
cafes all over the world and finds the hiss of the coffee machine a great
inspiration. When Miriam is not writing she loves reading, theatre and travel.
She collects oceans – four so far – and isn’t shy in any foreign language.
Miriam writes novels, poems and short stories for children, teens and adults. Her YA novel Hidden (in which two teens rescue an asylum seeker from the sea and hide him to save him from being deported) was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. It is currently being adapted for the stage and will be published in America in 2016.
Miriam writes novels, poems and short stories for children, teens and adults. Her YA novel Hidden (in which two teens rescue an asylum seeker from the sea and hide him to save him from being deported) was a Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. It is currently being adapted for the stage and will be published in America in 2016.
Hidden was followed by
two more YA novels: Illegal – about a girl who is forced to courier
drugs and struggles to free herself from the criminals, and Stuffed – a
love story about two teens who are each hiding a terrible secret from the
other.
Miriam’s new novel, The Emergency
Zoo (Alma Books, May 2016) is for 8-12 year-olds and tells an untold Second
World War story about domestic pets and their terrible fate.
Website: www.miriamhalahmy.com
Twitter: @miriamhalahmy
Facebook author page: Miriam Halahmy – Writer
Now living in North London, she spends her time writing, playing tennis, growing veg and super-hot chillies on her allotment, and loves to get the boxing gloves on. Savita is a member of the Scattered Authors Society and blogs regularly at An Awfully Big Blog Adventure (http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.co.uk). She runs a teen reading group at her local library in Finchley.
Her novel, The Long Weekend, published by Andersen Press, is a tense teen thriller about two boys who are abducted after school. The Long Weekend was shortlisted for the Fabulous Book Award 2010. Her short story, ‘The Poet’ was published in the short story anthology, Even Birds are Chained to the Sky.
Website: www.savitakalhan.com
Twitter: @savitakalhan
BRYONY PEARCE
Bryony lives in the
Forest of Dean and is a full-time mum to her two children, husband and various
pets. She is vegetarian and loves chocolate, wine and writing. People are often
surprised at how dark her writing is, as she is generally pretty nice. When the
children let her off taxi duty and out of the house, she enjoys doing school
visits, festivals and events.
Her novels for young
adults include: Angel’s Fury (a dark thriller about a teenage girl who
has been reincarnated), The Weight of Souls (a supernatural thriller
about a teenage girl who sees dead people), Phoenix Rising and Phoenix
Burning (dystopian adventures about pirates who sail on a junk-filled sea),
Windrunner’s Daughter (a science-fiction adventure set on Mars) and Wavefunction
(a science-fiction novel about a boy who can jump between universes).
Website: www.bryonypearce.co.uk
Twitter:
@BryonyPearceFacebook author page: BryonyPearceAuthor
Email: admin@bryonypearce.co.uk
PAULA RAWSTHORNE
Until her thirties, Paula Rawsthorne
had no idea that she was a writer. Then she won a national BBC writing
competition and her comic tale was read by Bill Nighy on Radio 4. Her dark
stories for adults have been published in anthologies of contemporary
literature. Her first young adult novel, The Truth about Celia Frost was
a winner in the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Undiscovered
Voices competition. Published by Usborne, it was shortlisted for eleven
literary awards and won the Leeds Book Award, the Sefton Super Reads and the
Nottingham Brilliant Book Award. Her second novel, Blood Tracks was also
shortlisted for a number of awards and won the Rib Valley Book Award.
Paula’s story ‘A Foreign Land’ was commissioned by Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature and published in These Seven. Paula has worked with numerous groups on issues raised by this story about a young asylum seeker.
Paula is invited to do author visits and workshops in secondary schools throughout the country and is a writer in residence for the literacy organisation First Story. She’s currently writing her third novel and lives in Nottingham with her husband and three children who are all much taller than her.
Website: www.paularawsthorne.wordpress.com
Paula’s story ‘A Foreign Land’ was commissioned by Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature and published in These Seven. Paula has worked with numerous groups on issues raised by this story about a young asylum seeker.
Paula is invited to do author visits and workshops in secondary schools throughout the country and is a writer in residence for the literacy organisation First Story. She’s currently writing her third novel and lives in Nottingham with her husband and three children who are all much taller than her.
Website: www.paularawsthorne.wordpress.com
Facebook: PaulaRawsthorneAuthor
Twitter: @PaulaRawsthorne
