Previous Winners

Laure Allain is a Brussels-based illustrator and author.

She has studied Dutch and English literature and linguistics and – more recently – graphic storytelling.

In the past, she has worked as a researcher, editor and teacher.

When she is not working, she is busy chasing after her toddler and her parakeet.

Anne writes for children and teens about the messy juxtaposition between beauty, fantasy, and gritty reality.

She has an MA in Writing for Young People from Bath Spa University and currently lives in Illinois.

When she’s not writing, she’s happiest working with children, cooking, travelling, and curling up with a good book.

Alex loves scary books. She blames a childhood spent playing murder-in-the-dark and listening to her dad’s blood-curdling bedtime stories.

Her UV 2022 anthology entry was called The Lord of the Hat.

Agent: Lina Langlee, The North Literary Agency

Twitter: @alatkinson

Relly Annett-Baker lives with a marvellous menagerie of mammals, including a husband and two beautiful boys.

She’s worked as a content strategist, writer and speaker all over the world for government, science labs, environmental charities, but her first love is stories.

Her entry in the Undiscovered Voices 2016 anthology was called The Unwilling Goddess.

Annaliese has spent most of her life surrounded by stories, both at work as a library manager and at home writing them.

She holds an MA in Creative Writing and is now the Program Leader for The Golden Egg Academy in Scotland which leads creative writing workshops across the UK.

In January 2020, Annaliese was shortlisted for the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices 2020 anthology. The Nightsilver Promise is her debut middle-grade novel, and the first in a thrilling, new fantasy trilogy.

Books: The Nightsilver Promise (Scholastic, May 2021)

Agent: Helen Boyle, Pickled Ink Agency

Twitter: @AnnalieseAvery

Website: www.annalieseavery.com

Yvonne Banham grew up on an island off the Cumbrian coast and spent lots of time huddled on the beach with a scary book.

She can speak Dutch (badly) and believes in ghosts though she’s never met one. She lives in Stirlingshire with her husband, and when she’s not writing, she’s hiking or trail running with her very naughty hound.

Her MG debut The Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie will be published by Firefly in April 2023.

Books: The Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie (Firefly, April 2023)

Twitter: @Eviewriter

Monika is an illustrator living and working in Switzerland. Coming from a background in linguistics and corporate accounting, she is passionate about visual storytelling.

She works in watercolours and digital media and is interested in fantasy and adventure, as well as more traditional illustration subjects.

Victoria is a previous UV winner (2022) and is currently writing a two book YA series for Working Partners.

Her passion is science fiction, in particular anything involving weird and wonderful plants. She works as a botanist for her day job, surveying habitats in England and lives in Brighton.

Rosie lives in Cambridge and loves all things nerdy. She is an editor at Working Partners Ltd.

As well as publishing Skulk under her own name she has written under pseudonyms on series published by Usborne, Hot Key Books and HarperCollins.

She is the seventh Erin Hunter, writing books in the Survivors series. When not writing or playing video games she sings with the Crouch End Festival Chorus.

Books: Skulk (Strange Chemistry, Oct 2013)

Agent: Catherine Pellegrino, Catherine Pellegrino and Associates

Twitter: @rosiejbest.

Blog: Skulking Writer Blog

Georgia is a YA-reading, Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer-obsessed librarian.

Working in libraries gave her access to a huge range of books for children and teens, and after reading so many of them, she decided to set herself the challenge of writing one.

Her entry in the Undiscovered Voices 2016 anthology was called Clopwyck River.

Books: Mark of the Wicked (Swoon/Macmillan US, August 2021)

Twitter: @georgia_bowers

Website: www.georgia-bowers.com

Anna Bowles likes chocolate, cuddly hippos and reading depressing Russian novels in the original language.

She’s a professional editor but thinks writing is a lot more fun.

Her entry in the UV 2016 anthology was called Steel Tanya.

Books: Rapids (ZunTold, May 2021)

Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates.

Twitter: @anna_bowles

Website: www.annabowles.co.uk

Sharon writes YA novels, short stories and flash fiction.

She has won Writers’ Forum, HISSAC and Exeter Writers’ short story competitions, and was longlisted in the 2020 Bath Children’s Novel Award.

Agent: Jo Williamson, Antony Harwood Ltd

Twitter: @SharonBoyle50

Anna’s writing career started in journalism as a travel writer.

Her debut novel, Monster Bogey (out now and published by Chicken House), was a SCBWI Undiscovered Voices winner (anthology name: Sean & The Frankenbogey). It was also longlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel award. The sequel, Monster Stink, will be released in the UK in August 2023.

She also has picture books in the pipeline (more on that in 2024). 

Agent: Sam Copeland, Rogers, Coleridge and White Literary

Twitter: @AE_Brooke

Instagram: annabrookewriter

James is obsessed with illustration and would love to see his picture books, Marlon’s Amazing Moustache and Mum’s Having a Monster, on bookshelves.

James illustrates for Baby London’s Diary of a Mum.

He has also designed promotional material for the Games Makers Choir 2012 as well as educational illustrations for Nottinghamshire Fire Service.

James came third in the Illustrate It 2013 picture book competition.

Susan is a Lancashire lass who loves writing middle-grade historical fiction.

She has worked as a journalist, sub-editor and in education roles at historical houses, a farm, a mill, a zoo and a former priory.

Susan was awarded the Margaret Carey scholarship in 2015.

Books: Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest (Uclan Publishing, 2020) Kintana and the Captain’s Curse (Uclan Publishing, July 2021) Gracie Fairshaw and the Trouble at the Tower (Uclan Publishing, October 2021)

Awards: Longlisted for the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award 2022

Twitter: @suebmuseum

Website: www.susanbrownrigg.com

A native Minnesotan, she currently lives in disgustingly beautiful Bavaria, Germany with her family.

Her most recent adventure is working towards a Masters of Arts in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, England while scribbling down scenes for her new novel on the side.

Awards: Honorable mention for the New Voices Award at the 2019 Capital Crime Festival. Honorable mention for the Amazon Publishing New Voices Award 2021

Agent: Hannah Sheppard, D H H Literary Agency

Website: pattibuff.wordpress.com

Sophie Cameron is a YA & MG writer from the Scottish Highlands. Her debut novel OUT OF THE BLUE was nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2019 and her books have been featured in Kirkus’ Best YA of the Year and the ALA Rainbow Book List, among others. She lives in Spain with her wife and their twin boys.

Agent: Hellie Ogden, Janklow & Nesbit UK.

Books: Out of The Blue (Macmillan Children’s Books, 2018) and Last Bus to Everland (Macmillan Children’s Books, May 2019) Our Sister, Again (Little Tiger, 2022) Away with Words (Little Tiger, May 2023)

Awards: Out of the Blue was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Grampian Children’s Book Award.

Twitter: @toomanysophies

Website: www.sophie-cameron.com

Working in the City lost its appeal, long hours making me miss bedtime with my boys.

Who wouldn’t rather be reading Room on the Broom than sitting in a meeting? My love of children’s books reborn, I started to write.

Writing is my time – squeezed in between the boys’ football, tennis, cricket…

Agent: Kate Shaw, The Shaw Agency.

Margaret studied at Liverpool College of Art before moving to London with a suitcase stuffed with dreams. Years of office work later, she rediscovered the suitcase, travelled a bit then settled to work.

Margaret was a brilliant writer and illustrator. Sadly she passed away in 2011.

Sarwat writes EPIC stories. The latest is SHADOW MAGIC, about a beautiful princess who rules a kingdom of undead and an outlaw boy who flies a giant vampire bat, because bats are cool.

He has written the ASH MISTRY trilogy, featuring a British-Asian hero and before that, he wrote the DEVIL’S KISS series, starring the only female Knight Templar.

When not writing novels, Sarwat’s busy writing comic strips, such as 18 Days, the sci-fi adaptation of the Indian Mahabharata.

Books: Devil’s Kiss (Disney-Hyperion and others, 2009), Dark Goddess (Disney-Hyperion and others, 2010), Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress (HarperCollins and others, 2012), Ash Mistry and the City of Death (HarperCollins and others, 2013), Ash Mistry and the World of Darkness (HarperCollins and others, 2013), Shadow Magic (Disney-Hyperion and others, writing under the pseudonym Joshua Khan, 2016), Burning Magic (Disney-Hyperion, 2018), Double-cross (Scholastic, 2016), and Spirit Animals (Scholastic, 2018).

Awards: Shortlisted: Brandford Boase (2010), Barnes and Nobles Best YA Novels (2009), Spellbinding Award (2009), and USBBY 2013 Outstanding International Books (Grades 6-8). Longlisted: Lone Star book award (2012, 2013), Hillingdon Book of the Year shortlist (2013), Stockton Book of the Year shortlist (2013), and Junior Library Guild Selection (Fall 2012).

Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency.

Twitter: @sarwatchadda, and @writerjoshkhan

Website: www.sarwatchadda.com and www.joshuakhan.com

Katrina was an Undiscovered Voices finalist in 2014, and soon after signed with superstar agent Gemma Cooper at The Bent Agency. She writes for all ages from Picture books up to Middle Grade and has since had over thirty books published including bestselling chapter book series The Last Firehawk.

In 2021 she won the Hampshire Book Prize for the ABC Factor and Booktrust’s Storytime prize for her book The Whales on the Bus illustrated by Nick Sharratt.

In 2013 she was a recipient of the SCBWI BI Margaret Carey scholarship.

Books: The Ninjabread Man (Franklin Watts, 2015); Poppy’s Place series: The Home Made Cat Cafe (Stripes, 2016), Trouble at the Cat Cafe (Stripes, 2016), The Great Cat Cafe Rescue (Stripes, March 2017), and Secrets at the Cat Cafe (Stripes, July 2017); The Last Firehawk early chapter book series: The Ember Stone (Scholastic US, 2017), The Crystal Caverns (Scholastic US, 2017), The Whispering Oak (Scholastic US, 2018), Lullaby Lake (Scholastic US, 2018), The Shadowlands (Scholastic US, 2019) and Battle for Perodia (Scholastic Us, 2019) with four more books to come in the series; Picture book series: Car, Car, Truck, Jeep (Bloomsbury, 2018) and Go, Go, Pirate Boat (Bloomsbury, 2019) with two more books to come in the series; Survival Tails MG series: Survival Tails: Titanic (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2018), Survival Tails: Endurance in Antarctica (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2019), and Survival Tails: World War II (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2019) with another to come in 2020.

Awards: Shortlisted: SSYR Jr Awards 2019

Agent: Gemma Cooper, The Bent Agency

Twitter: @Katrina_Charman

After Uni, Ali moved to London to pursue a career in television. She worked on a wide range of shows from Teletubbies to Friends.

She now lives in Essex with a houseful of teenagers and can often be found freezing on the side of a rugby pitch.

Agent: Saskia Leach at Kate Nash Literary Agency

Twitter: @alisonclack1

Christian lives in south-east London.

He is currently rewriting while fending off a pair of very needy cats.

Agent: Gemma Cooper, The Bent Agency

Twitter: @ChrisColussi

Zoe spent fifteen years in the grown-up world before quitting her management job to write for a living (albeit mostly reports, funding bids and business cases).

An avid reader, Zoe reviews children’s books on her website and would love to write for book packagers or publishers developing in-house fiction/non-fiction.

Website: https://www.madgereviews.co.uk/

Adam’s debut novel is a science inspired YA thriller set on board the world’s first deep-sea mining rig.

He is a former physicist and former child who likes writing stories and building unlikely, poorly thought through gadgets with his sons. He started his career as a physicist, building part of the Large Hadron Collider in CERN. He has also sold encyclopaedias in Chicago, worked for an investment bank, taught physics in Sudan, fitted emergency Wi-Fi in the refugee camps in Greece, and now works as an engineering manager in the Google Research team.

He lives in Hertfordshire with his partner, two sons, and a dog named Rosie.

Agent: Kate Shaw at The Shaw Agency.

Website: http://aconnors.com

Books: The Girl Who Broke The Sea (Scholastic – 2023) 

Twitter: @aconnors_writes

Instagram: @a_connors_writes

Veronica notched up her first rejection slip early, for a ‘novel’ written at boarding school as a distraction from homesickness.

Decades later, now published in over a dozen countries, she is re-working that story – never throw anything away!

She currently lives in Hampshire, with a houseful of fauna and flora.

Books: The Extincts (Chicken House, 2013), The Halloweeds (Chicken House, 2016) and The Marvellous Land of Snergs (Chicken House, 2020).

Awards: Carnegie (nominated), James Reckitt Hull Libraries Award (shortlisted), BASH (Books at St Helen’s – shortlisted), and Lancashire Fantastic Books Award (longlisted).

Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates

Twitter: @vcossanteli

Website: Doublecluck.com/Veronica Cossanteli

Dave Cousins’ writing has been described as “teen realism with action, humour and heart.”

His YA novels were both nominated for the Carnegie Medal, and have won awards worldwide.

Dave also writes and illustrates the Charlie Merrick series for slightly younger readers.

He tours extensively, visiting schools, libraries and festivals.

Books: 15 Days Without a Head (Oxford University Press, 2012), Waiting for Gonzo (Oxford University Press, March 2013), One Short (Collins Big Cat, May 2013), Goodbye To All That (Collins Big Cat, May 2013), Charlie Merrick’s Misfits in Fouls, Friends and Football (Oxford University Press, May 2014), Charlie Merrick’s Misfits in I’m a Nobody, Get Me Out of Here! (Oxford University Press, June 2015), My Babysitter is a Robot (Stripes, July 2019), Is My Teacher a Robot? (Stripes, Feb 2020), A Robot Ate My Grandma (Stripes, Aug 2020) and My Robot’s Gone Wild (Stripes, Feb 2021).

Awards: 2013 SCBWI Crystal Kite for UK & Europe (15 Days without a Head), Premio Andersen, Italy (15 Days without a Head, Italian edition), and Grampian Children’s Book Award 2014 (Waiting for Gonzo)

Also shortlisted for: Carnegie Medal, Branford Boase, Brilliant Book Award, Coventry Best Book, Essex Book Award, Hounslow Teen Book Award, James Reckitt Hull Children’s Book Award, Lancashire Book of the Year Award, Llanelli Schools Best Read of the Year, North East Teenage Book Award, Nottingham Brilliant Book Award, Redbridge Teen Book Award (2nd place), Rib Valley Book Award, St Helens Book Award, Wirral Paperback of the Year and Deutscher Jugendliteratur Preis 2017.

Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates

Twitter: @DaveCousins9000

Website: Davecousins.net

Blog: Dave Cousins Blogspot

James currently works as a natural history video editor and has always wanted to pursue a career in illustration.

He builds his portfolio in his free time, focusing on the natural world and science communication inspired by his degree in Zoology, and a strong affinity with animals and education.

Nick is a writer and illustrator with more than ten short stories published in children’s magazines – these were hailed by an editor as “miniature marvels.”

An irreverent sense of humour infuses all of Nick’s work, and he enjoys combining words, images and design to create uniquely engaging fiction.

Awards: Honours winner of the 2015 SCBWI Magazine Merit Award for fiction.

Twitter: @nick_w_cross

Website: www.nickcross.co.uk

Instagram: @nick_w_cross

Sue Cunningham writes YA with humour and a hint of magic. Her debut novel is due to be published by Scholastic UK in autumn 2023.

Sue lives in a Manchester man cave with her husband, teen sons and a super-clingy cockapoo. When she’s not writing or tripping over electric guitar cables, she works for the NHS.

Awards: UV2022, winner: WriteMentor Children’s Novel Award 2020, shortlisted: Northern Writers 2022, York Festival of Writing Best Opening Chapter, longlisted: Bath Children’s Novel Award 2020. Short story awards include competitions run by Writer’s Forum magazine and Orion/Darley Anderson.

Agent: Rachel Petty at The Blair Partnership

A writer and an actress, Katie likes nothing more than creating characters – both on the page and on stage.

She loves to write for all ages, and is currently working furiously on a variety of projects, from YA novels to picture books – whilst playing the odd princess/assassin/zombie in between…

Books: Since being chosen as a winner of Undiscovered Voices, Katie has had 100 children’s books published in 8 countries around the world.

Awards: Someone Else’s Life: Stockport Mad About Books Award, Oldham Brilliant Books Award, and nominated for the Anobii First Book Award. Little White Lies: UKYA Blogger Award for “Best Ending”.

Twitter: @katiedaleuk

Website: katiedaleuk.blogspot.co.uk

Sarah co-runs and co-owns a broadcast talent agency and in an earlier life worked in TV production. She loves history, politics, travelling, adventure, big cities, big countryside, gardening, reading and writing. Raised in County Durham, she now lives and works in London.

Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associate

Farm-girl turned ex-pat Rose Margaret Deniz lives in a neighbourhood full of roses and tea gardens.

When she is not writing, she plotting an escape to a Turkish village to raise chickens.

Her entry in the UV 2016 anthology was called The Evolution Of You And Me.

Agent: Jo Williamson, Antony Harwood Literary Agency

Twitter: @rosedeniz

Website: www.rosedeniz.com

Emma Dowson works as a book publicist. After working with authors on their books, she realised that she wanted to write her own!

She lives in London with her two children and two rabbits. She likes Chinese food, holidays, baking and reading, and hopes to have a dog one day.

Her entry in the UV 2016 anthology was called The Chinatown Cat.

Jude grew up abroad before attending secondary school and university in the United Kingdom and developing her career in education.

She completed her Masters in Writing for Children, gaining a Distinction in 2011.

Jude continues to enjoy writing whilst combining this with her work in education.

Books: Mervyn the Magic Martian Visits Earth (Chatten House, 2021), Mary and Operation Whistle (Chatten House, 2021) and another book due out later in 2021.  She has also been published in an anthology entitled Paper Mirrors (Crocus Books) and Jude has published over twenty educational books, solely and in collaboration, with publishers such as Collins, Pearsons and Hodder…. 

Awards: Shortlisted: Waterstones Wow Factor Competition 2006, Adventures in Fiction Competition 2006 (Commended Writer). Finalist/Winner: Guildford Arts Poetry Slam 2008, South Hill Park Halloweenfest Competition 2011, Commonword Children’s Diversity Writing Prize 2012, Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Competition 2013.

Website: www.judeensaff.com

Blog: Judes Writing Blogspot

Twitter: @JudeEnsaff

Instagram: @jude_ensaff

Lucy is an illustrator and aspiring writer of picture books.

She’s been freelance for around ten years and has undertaken a variety of commissions from many different clients such as greeting cards, illustrations for apps, magazine illustrations and picture books written by self-publishing authors.

Recent work has been with Little Tiger Press, the Environment Agency and Newcastle University.

Awards: First prize for illustration, in Faber’s 2017 FAB Prize competition.

Agent: Alice Sutherland-Hawes from Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV and Film Agency

Website: www.lucyfarfort.co.uk

Claire used to work in a library before Undiscovered Voices turned her into a full-time author.

She now spends her days happily writing about pirates and magic.

Books: The Accidental Pirates: Voyage to Magical North (Macmillan, 2016), The Accidental Pirates: Journey to Dragon Island (Macmillan, 2017), Mirror Magic (Macmillan, 2018), Storm Hound (Macmillan, 2019) Welsh Fairytales, Myths and Legends (Scholastic 2021) Tapper Watson and the Quest for the Nemo Machine (coming September 2023)

Awards: Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month, Tir na n-Og award 2020. Shortlisted: FCBG Children’s Book Award. Tir na n-Og Nominated for: the Carnegie medal

Agent: Gemma Cooper, The Bent Agency

Twitter: @clairefayers

Website: www.clairefayers.com

P. M. Freestone has a mailing address in Scotland but spends most days immersed in epic fantasy worlds.

Her debut YA novel, Shadowscent: The Darkest Bloom was published by Scholastic in the UK and US, and has since been translated into seven other languages.

Books: Shadowscent: The Darkest Bloom (Scholastic and others, 2019) and Shadowscent: Crown of Smoke (Scholastic and others, 2020).

Awards: Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award, Aurealis Award (Finalist)

Agent: Josh Adams, Adams Literary (US); Caroline Walsh, David Higham Associates (UK)

Website: www.pmfreestone.com

Instagram: @p.m.freestone

After being included in the UV 2010 Undiscovered Voices anthology, Emily began to (slowly!) redraft her young adult novel From Darkness following incredibly helpful advice from interested agents and publishers.

Emily is currently completing a doctorate in Child and Educational Psychology, but still finds some time to write, working on From Darkness and various short stories.

Harriet Goodwin was born within the sound of Bow Bells, but spent most of her childhood in rural Kent, where she specialised in building dens and bonfires.

She reluctantly grew up and read medieval English at Oxford before training as a professional singer.

She now divides her time between singing and writing, and lives in the Staffordshire countryside with her husband and four children.

Books: The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43 (Stripes 2009), Gravenhunger (Stripes 2011), The Hex Factor (Stripes 2012), and The Hex Factor: Dark Tide (Stripes September 2013). Also two books for Collins’ Big Cat educational reading scheme – Beneath the Waves (2012) and The Black Dog (2013).

Awards: Winner: Bedfordshire Children’s Book of the Year. Shortlisted: Blue Peter Book Award; Cheshire Schools’ Book; East Sussex Children’s Book Award; Coventry Inspiration Book Awards; Tower Hamlets Book Award; New Horizon Dorset Young People’s Book Award; Southwark Book Award; Stockport Schools’ Book Award; Stockton Children’s Book Award; Warwickshire Children’s Book Award; Lancashire Library Services Fantastic Book Award; Nottinghamshire Brilliant Book Award; The Oldham Book Award; Leeds Book Award; Hillingdon School Book of the Year; Red House Children’s Book Award.

Website: www.harrietgoodwinbooks.com

Candy Gourlay has been a journalist, press photographer, web designer, short film maker, radio presenter (well, once) and fake American accent voice talent.

She once helped overthrow a dictator (with several million other people).

She has now forsworn revolutionary activity to become a children’s author.

Books: Tall Story (David Fickling Books 2010), and Shine (David Fickling Books 2013).

Awards: Shine – Nominated for the Guardian Fiction Prize. Winner of the Crystal Kite Prize for 2014. Tall Story – Fifty Best Diverse Books since 1950, Winner of the Crystal Kite Prize for Europe 2011, Winner of the National Book Award of the Philippines 2012, Kirkus Outstanding Children’s Debut of 2011, Carnegie Medal Longlist, Waterstone Children’s Book Prize Shortlist, Blue Peter My Favourite Story Shortlist, Branford Boase Shortlist, UKLA Children’s Book Prize Shortlist, Sakura Medal Shortlist (Japan), The Brilliant Book Award Shortlist (Nottinghamshire), New Horizons Book Award Shortlist (Dorset), Tower Hamlets Book Prize Shortlist, Salford Book Prize Shortlist, Warwickshire Primary Book Prize Shortlist, Stockport Schools Book Award Shortlist (KS2), Leeds Book Awards Shortlist (11-14 Category), Hillingdon Secondary School Book of the Year Shortlist.

Agent: Hilary Delamere, The Agency

Twitter: @candygourlay

Website: candygourlay.com

Blog: Notesfromtheslushpile.com

Sara Grant has inspired, written or edited nearly 100 books for children. Her newest book – Chasing Danger – is an action-adventure series for tweens. Sara teaches Goldsmiths University’s master’s class on writing for children/teens. She co-created Undiscovered Voices and continues to serve on the planning committee. She offers events for writers through Book Bound.

Books: Chasing Danger (Scholastic, 2016), Chasing Danger: Mystery at the Ice Hotel (Scholastic, 2016), Dark Parties (Little, Brown US and Orion UK 2010/2011), Half Lives (Little, Brown US and Orion UK 2013), and the Magic Trix series (Orion 2013-2014) – The Witching Hour (Mar 2013), Flying High (Mar 2013), Birthday Wishes (May 2013), Magic Mayhem (July 2013), Secrets and Spies (Jan 2013) and Magic Mansion (Mar 2013).

Awards: Dark Parties won the SCBWI Crystal Award for Europe

Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates

Twitter: @authorsaragrant

Website: Sara-grant.com

Blog: Edge Authors Blog

Dave started out as a graphic designer and works as a commercial illustrator. Since becoming a finalist in Undiscovered Voices, he has found a literary agent and is excited to be developing several picture book ideas.

Agent: Louise Burns, Andrew Mann

Twitter: @iamdavegray

Website and Twitter: www.iamdavegray.com

Sandra Greaves was born in Edinburgh and lives in Devon.

Formerly in journalism, TV and communications, she now works as a copywriter (and is also an award-winning poet).

She and her husband keep several badly-behaved chickens on a smallholding midway between the moor and the sea.

Books: The Skull in the Wood (Chicken House, 2013)

Awards: The Skull in the Wood: nominated for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2014, Shrewsbury Bookfest Children’s Book Award 2014 and the Brilliant Book Award 2015.

Agent: Anna Power, Johnson & Alcock

Twitter: @sandra_greaves

Simon James Green is an award-winning author and screenwriter.

He writes picture books, middle-grade and YA and his novels have been published internationally.

Books: Noah Can’t Even (Scholastic, 2017), Noah Could Never (Scholastic, 2018), Penguins (Proud Book anthology, Stripes, 2019) (Stripes, 2019), Alex in Wonderland (Scholastic, 2019), Llama Glamarama (Scholastic, 2020), Heartbreak Boys (Scholastic, 2020), Life of Riley: Beginner’s Luck (Scholastic, 2020), Fabulous Frankie (Scholastic, 2021), and You’re the One That I Want (Scholastic, 2021).

Awards: Blue Peter Book Award – shortlisted; Nominated for the Carnegie Medal; Winner – Wirral Schools Book of the Year; Amazing Book Awards – Bronze; Leeds Book Awards – shortlisted; Branford Boase Award – longlisted; Teen Book Awards – longlisted.

Agent: Jo Moult, Skylark Literary Agency.

Website: www.simonjamesgreen.com

Twitter: @simonjamesgreen

Instagram: @simonjamesgreen

Julia was selected for the new illustration category, since then she has graduated from the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art and has been fulfilling her dream of becoming a children’s book illustrator.

She lives in Norwich, the beautiful medieval City of Stories with her arty, musical family and divides her time between illustrating picture books and working as a college lecturer.

Books: Animal Babies in the River, Animal Babies in the Meadow, Animal Babies in the Mountain, and Animal Babies in the Forest (Child’s Play International 2016 UK/USA), Rainforest (Child’s Play International 2017 UK/USA), I See the Sea (Child’s Play International 2021 UK/USA), and Milly Cow Gives Milk (Scallywag Press 2021 UK).

Awards: Outstanding Merit from Bank Street College of Education, New York’s Best Books of the Year list 2018. Shortlisted: The 2016 Progressive Preschool Awards (Best Pre-School Publishing Range). Longlisted: Cogan Biodiversity Picture Book Award 2020 in the UK. 

Twitter: @julia2groves

Website: juliagroves.tumblr.com

Instagram: @juliagrovesillustrator

David lives in the Midlands. Specifically, without being smart enough to buy a bookcase, beneath a wall of books so large Jon Snow keeps trying to defend it.

When he’s not reading or writing, he enjoys football, poker and running.

Mostly away from writing synopses but sometimes just for fun.

Dale Hannah has a passion for writing funny middle-grade fiction; he is especially fond of puns.

Dale has previously won a Northern Writers’ Award and the Commonword Diversity Prize, along with longlistings for both the Times Chicken House Prize and the Bath Children’s Novel Award.

He’s partial to Maltesers.

Jane longed to be an artist, but somehow became a TV producer.

She grew up in Wiltshire with her brothers, hunting mayfly-nymphs with her father, reading stories with her mother. Now she lives in London’s East End, near the great, wild River Thames – inspiration for her first book.

Books: The Executioner’s Daughter (Egmont, 2014/Lerner Books USA, 2016) and River Daughter (Egmont, 2015)

Awards: Longlisted: Branford Boase Award. Shortlisted: Oxfordshire Book Award and the Salford Children’s Book Award. Winner: Primary Teacher Awards 2014 and the Salisbury Schools Book Award 2016. Selected for USBBY Outstanding International Books List 2017

Agent: Gillie Russell, Aitken Alexander

Website: www.janehardstaff.com

Twitter: @JaneHardstaff

Once upon a time Clare was an actress. Now she works as an English tutor and is the loyal servant of the grumpiest cat in south-east London.

She (Clare, not the cat) is an active member of SCBWI, and has been longlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award and the Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition and selected twice for the Write Mentor Summer Programme.

Agent: Amber Caravéo, Skylark Literary

Winning the 2008 Undiscovered Voices competition enabled Steve to give up his proper job and become a full-time author.

Eleven books and countless school visits later, he’s taking a break from children’s books to write scripts with his wife and daughter, under the collective name “Pig in a Ginnel”.

Books: Danny Baker Record Breaker series (Macmillan Children’s Books) – The World’s Biggest Bogey (2010), The World’s Awesomest Airbarf (2010), The World’s Loudest Armpit Fart (2010), The World’s Stickiest Earwax (2010), The World’s Itchiest Pants (2011), The World’s Windiest Baby (2011), Danny Baker’s Silly Olympics: The Wibbly Wobbly Jelly Belly Flop (2012) The Oliver Fibbs series (Macmillan Children’s Books) – Oliver Fibbs: Attack of the Alien Brain (2013), Oliver Fibbs and the Giant Boy-Munching Bugs (2013), Oliver Fibbs and the Abominable Snow Penguin (2014) and Oliver Fibbs and the Clash of the Mega Robots (2014); Audio  – Amy Warburton’s Most Unusual Pet, and He Should Have Listened to Granddad for Derian Dreams, Derian House Children’s Hospice (2016).

Awards: Winner: Surrey Libraries Children’s Book of the Year 2014; Long-listed: Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2010; Doncaster Children’s Book Awards 2015.

Website: www.stevehartley.net

My entry in the inaugural UV2008 was a short story (unlike most which were extracts of complete novels). It was called Not Quite Me. After the anthology was published, I tried to turn the story into a full-length novel. I decided I couldn’t. Then a couple of years ago (having left the story to gather dust), I went back through my drafts and suddenly the story came to me. It’s now called Vinny’s Girls. It’s part police procedural (think Line of Duty), part science fiction (Inception) and part mystery thriller (Shutter Island).  

I’m not sure whether I will be able to find an agent or whether it will ever see the light of day. But it’s been fun trying and good for the soul.

Twitter: @IanHarveyBrown

Katie Hayoz was born in Racine, Wisconsin, but ended up in Geneva, Switzerland, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and two fuzzy cats.

She devours YA and children’s books like she does popcorn and black licorice: quickly and in large quantities.

Books: 50 Amazing Swiss Women: True Stories You Should Know About (Bergli Books, 2021 – distributed in English, French and German) and Of Wicked Blood (Twig Publishing 2021).

Awards: Finalist in Mslexia children’s novel competition 2012

Website: www.katiehayoz.com

Twitter: @katiehayoz

Mary grew up in Australia and became a printmaker. After years engaged in seemingly unconnected occupations: travelling, teaching English, book selling, graphic design and motherhood, everything linked up when she did the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art.

Connecting words and pictures and collaborating with others satisfies a lifelong drive to see what is born when you combine two or more very different things.

Her illustration in the UV2016 anthology was called ‘The Fast Way Up’ illustrating Jack and the Tower Block.

Website: www.maryhays.com

Deborah lives in Manchester with her two noisy dogs, and two noisier children.

Though she loves YA & MG, she’s jumped ship to a different age group and is currently editing her first adult fantasy manuscript.

Agent: Jemima Forrester, David Higham Associates.

Emma always wanted to be an actress but when cast as a panda in the school play, with her friends leaping by as gazelles, she started to rethink her career prospects.

She now makes theatre for and with young people, ensuring any pandas are treated as humanely as possible.

Agent: Kate Shaw, The Viney Agency.

Twitter: @HighamEmma

Website: www.emmahigham.net

A lifelong fan of comics, sci-fi and fantasy, Urara had an international upbringing, moving from Japan, USA, England and finally to Scotland.

After doing time as a scientist, she’s now pursuing her lifelong dream of writing novels for teens.

When she’s free, she likes to walk the Highland hills.

David was born in South Africa and lives in London.

In 2013, he graduated with distinction from Bath Spa University with an MA in Writing for Young People.

He also works in Advertising as a Planner, although he’s not quite sure what that means.

Books: Stone Rider (Penguin, July 2015)

Awards: Winner: Grand Prix de L’imaginaire 2016 (a French SFF award), Prix Pepites 2015 at the Salon du Livre de Jeunesse de Montreuil in France. Shortlisted: Branford Boase Award (2016), Guardian Wow Factor (2005).

Agent: Stephanie Thwaites, Curtis Brown

Website: www.davidhofmeyr.com

Twitter: @dhofmeyr

Instagram: @dhofmeyr

Sandy is a printmaker and illustrator who likes to combine traditional printmaking with digital techniques. An MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, led to her debut picture book, Selfie, being published in 2020.

She lives in Suffolk and likes nothing better than inky fingernails.

Books: Selfie (US edition: Capstone, 2020; UK edition: Raintree, 2021)

Awards: Moscow International Book Fair, Image of the Book – Diploma Award for Best Illustrations for Fiction, 2019; Noirwich Flash Fiction – longlisted writer, 2018; and Movable Book Society Emerging Paper Engineer – honourable mention, 2018.

Arts Residencies: Suffolk Libraries – Libraries in a Year 2019 – 2020

Website: sandyhorsley.com

Instagram: @sandyhorsley

Blog: sandyhorsley.com/blog

Amber Hsu is a London-based writer, filmmaker, and visual artist.

She has written for the Royal Court, Orange Tree, and Islington Youth theatres, and with the National Theatre Studios and BBC Writer’s Room.

She is also the founder and creator of Tiny Pencil, an independent anthology artzine and press. Once, she also worked in a morgue.

Awards: Film London London Calling Award and 2012 3×3 Illustration Magazine Children’s Show Award.

Agent: Emily Hickman, The Agency

Twitter: @amberhsu

Website: www.amberhsu.com

Blog: www.amberhsu.com/blog

Andrea Ipaktchi continues to draw, paint and write from her studio in Paris for both private and corporate commissions. She is an American with a degree from Parsons School of Design.

In 2020, she co-wrote a comedy script called Retreat which is currently in production with a hilarious cast of voice actors. The work was inspired by her printmaking residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Center for Arts. She continues to labor over a graphic novel for middle grade readers and an audio fiction script for the same story.

Audio Script: Retreat, an audio-fiction comedy (Currently in post production for Spring 2021 release).

Awards: 2015 Groupe Monte dei Fiori, affiliated with the Galérie Metanoia, Paris.

Arts residencies: 2019 Printmaking residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre (Annaghmakerrig, Ireland) and
2020 Printmaking residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre (Annaghmakerrig, Ireland).

Twitter: www.illustratrice.com

Instagram: @andrea_ipaktchi

Teacher in collar and tie, writer in specs and pants, Andrew lives with his husband and Hugo the collie in Greenwich where he co-runs a successful writing group.

Determined to bring more queer families and protagonists to children’s literature, he is about to begin a PhD with that very focus.

Emily grew up in Tyneside and went on to study Illustration for Children’s book at the School of Creative Arts, Wrexham.

She now works as a freelance illustrator from her studio in Cardiff.

Her work is created digitally but loves to work with pencil, paper and paint whenever she can.

Agent: Chloe Davis, Darley Anderson Agency

Awards: Runner-up Jonathan Cape/Observer Graphic Short Story Prize 2017. Shortlisted for the Stratford-Salariya Picture Book Prize.

Website: www.emilybobdraws.com

Instagram: @emilybobdraws

Sharon Jones has been writing since childhood.

While at university she worked in two independent bookshops where she developed a love of young adult fiction.

Having lived in Liverpool, Cambridge, Warwick and Colchester, she now lives in the West Midlands with her giant white poodle, Harvey.

Books: Dead Jealous (Orchard Books, July 2013) and Dead Silent (Orchard Books, Spring 2014)

Awards: Longlisted for The Sussex Coast Schools’ Amazing Books Award 2015

Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates

Twitter: @PoodlePowered

Brought up on David Attenborough documentaries, Katja finds the magic and mystery of the natural world utterly mesmerising.

Half Singaporean and half German, she has explored the world on aeroplanes and through her microscope, meeting orangutans, stingrays, water fleas and other friends.

By day Kathryn is a global business person and general nerd wrangler; by night she writes novels, short stories and flash fiction.

She has been longlisted as part of the 2017 Bath Flash Fiction Award.

She is also a member of the Golden Egg Academy.

Books: The Boy I Am (Little Tiger Press, 2021)

Agent: James Wills, Watson Little

Website: www.klkettle.com

Heather studied fine art to master’s level in Australia and New Zealand.

She met many talented people while working as a film sculptor on Lord of the Rings and this inspired her to write and illustrate picture books.

On moving to the UK in 2007 Heather joined SCBWI as a means to further this dream.

Her illustration for the Undiscovered Voices 2012 Anthology was entitled “Talking with Birds”.

Website: heatherkilgour.com

Blog: biglittletale.tumblr.com

Rachel lives amongst the green hills and sheep of Cumbria.

She has an abiding love of fantasy, dragons and wolves.

She was ecstatic when the opening of To Dance With The Wind won a place in the Undiscovered Voices Anthology.

She continues to weave words into stories and enjoys the support of local SCBWI members on her writing journey.

Twitter: @LathamRachel

Rachel Lovatt is an illustrator based in the Peak District.

Since completing her MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art, she has exhibited widely.

Storytelling is at the heart of Rachel’s practice, and she employs hand painting, drawing and collage techniques to create her work.

Cara lives in a medieval cottage in Dedham Vale, Suffolk with her family. She now writes adult murder mystery under C L Miller.

Cara was WriteMentor2020 summer mentee and had an honorary mention in UV2020. Since UV2022, Cara has moved away from writing for children.

Books: The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder (Pan Macmillan, February 2024)

Agent: Hannah Todd at Madeleine Milburn

Em is the author of funny fiction and poetry for 4-10 yrs and an active member of the SCBWI.

As well as winning a UV place for To Destiny or Death in 2012, she also created the funEverse: an online poetry website where SCBWI poets respond poetically to the illustrations of internationally renowned illustrators. She loves to blog on writing techniques and secretly laughs out loud at her own work.

Em Lynas was featured in the 2013 Anthology as Maureen Lynas.

Agent: Amber Caraveo, The Skylark Agengy

Books: The Toadspit Towers series (Nosy Crow Aug 2017), and The Action Words Reading Scheme (Action Words, 2004)

Twitter: @maureenlynas

Websites: emlynas.weebly.com, thefuneverse.com, and actionwords.co.uk

Blog: Notesfromtheslushpile Blog

Lisa Mann lives in Norfolk where she divides her time between painting, writing middle grade fiction and teaching creative writing to Gifted and Talented Children.

Last year she discovered the joys of Taekwondo and is on her way to earning her Blue Belt. She is a SCBWI volunteer and helps to run a local art gallery.

Lisa Mann was featured in the 2010 Anthology as Lisa Joy Smith.

Agent: Gillie Russell, Aitken Alexander

Websites: www.paintedwithlovebylisa.co.uk

Teacher by day, dad by night, Michael mostly writes when he should be

sleeping.

He owes the idea for Ghostcloud to his coal-mining grandad and a lifelong

love of cloudspotting.

He lives in London with his (patient) partner Joe and their (less patient)

toddler, and can be found playing board games when he’s not busy losing his

wallet.

Books: Ghostcloud (Hachette, October 2021), Nightspark (Hachette, February 2023), The Faber Book of Bedtime Stories (Faber, October 2022)

Awards: Ghostcloud: AWaterstones Best Children’s book of 2021, BookTrust Great Books Guide 2022, Toppsta top 10 books of 2022 as voted by children, East Sussex Children’s Book Award Shortlist 2022, Salford Book Award Shortlist 2022, Oxfordshire Book Award Shortlist 2022. Also as an author: London Writers Award 2019, Bath Children’s Novel Award (Longlist 2019), Writementor Children’s Novel Award 2019 (Notable mention), Faber FAB Prize 2017 (Commended).

Agent: Stephanie Thwaites and Isobel Gahan, Curtis Brown

Twitter: @mikebmann

Instagram: @mikemannwrites

Website: michaelmann.co.uk

Growing up Tom wanted to be Indiana Jones, but instead his degree in Egyptology landed him a job in the film business.

He was a production executive for close to a decade. Now he’s a school librarian, so he gets to share his passion for storytelling with children every day.

Agent: Jo Williamson at Antony Harwood

Twitter: @TomGMann

Emma Mason is a former Detective Constable with Oxford CID but left after several unsuccessful years of trying to find Inspector Morse’s office.

She moved to Dorset to enjoy a more peaceful life where she was promptly burgled and hospitalised by a drink-driver.

Agent: Joanna Moult, Skylark Literary

Richard was born in east London and went to sea at an early age where he began writing as a hobby.

Forty years of rejections later he was selected for Undiscovered Voices in 2012 and signed his first book deal shortly afterwards.

Sadly, Richard passed away in November 2013.

Books: Boonie (Hot Key Books 2013)

Award: Runner-up, David St. John Thomas Award 2010

Agent: Anna Power, Johnson & Alcock

Website: www.richardmasson.com

Kirsty is thrilled to be a UV-propelled success story and to have books popping up on shelves all around the world. Her favourite subjects to write about include zombies and murderers for teens, and cross-dressing ogres for younger kids.

Originally from the north east of England, Kirsty is currently based in the USA, where she is developing a love of burritos and working on her twang.

Books: Undead (Chicken House, 2011), Unfed (Chicken House, 2012), Pausensnack, an ebook novella in the Undead series (Carlsen/Chicken House Germany, May 2013), and Ogres don’t Dance (Andersen Press, May 2014).

Awards: Shortlisted for Warwickshire Secondary Schools Book of the Year Award 2013

Agent: Veronique Baxter, David Higham Associates.

Twitter: @Kirkybean

Websites: www.kirstymckay.com and www.facebook.com/kirstymckaywriter

Helen MacKenzie is a copywriter living near Edinburgh.

In 2017 she received a Scottish Book Trust New Writers’ Award. She has also been shortlisted for the Kelpies Prize and the Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition and longlisted in the Bath Children’s Novel Award.

She loves walking and cycling, coffee and cake.

Twitter: @W1shfulth1nker

Website: www.helenmackenzie.net

Jane is originally from Minnesota, in the USA, but has lived in the UK for many years.

She is a writer and teacher, and is currently writing for both adults and children

Books: At Yellow Lake (Francis Lincoln, 2012) and Crowham Martyrs (Catnip Publishing, 2015)

Award: At Yellow Lake: Shortlisted: Amazing Book Awards. Longlisted: Branford Boase, Waterstones and Carnegie. The Crowham Martyrs: Shortlisted: Leeds Book Awards, Essex Book Awards. Longlisted: Waterstones.

Agent: Sallyanne Sweeney, MMB Creative

Twitter: @jbmcloughlin

Shirley-Anne McMillan is a writer and tutor from Co. Down, Northern Ireland. She also runs a Gay Straight Alliance group and an Integration project in a local high school.

Following the 2014 Undiscovered Voices anthology, Shirley signed with agent Jenny Savill at Andrew Nurnberg Associates.

Books: Widows’ Row (Amazon Create Space, 2012), A Good Hiding (Atom, 2016), The Unknowns (Atom 2017), and Every Sparrow Falling (Atom Sept. 2019)

Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates.

Twitter: @shirleyannemcm

Website: www.shirleyannemcmillan.com

Sarah has been writing children’s books all her adult life.

She’s worked in various children’s libraries and bookshops and has three degrees, including an MA in Writing for Children.

She now writes stories while her two children are at school, taking time out for walks, puzzles, films and reading.

Books: The Others (to be published by Everything With Words, Autumn 2024/ Spring 2025)

Twitter: @sjmerrett1

Catherine Miller grew up in south-east London, reading everything and anything, including cereal boxes. After reading Classics at Oxford she lived in Greece for a year before returning to London to teach English in secondary schools. Catherine writes under the name Catherine Queen.

Her entry in the UV2016 anthology was called The Hunt Is On.

Website: www.catherinequeen.com

Twitter: @cathqueenwrites

As a child, John Morgan discovered a love of writing and drawing – mixing words and pictures to make stories.

As a Keeper of Art and teacher, he studied the history of picture books. Following an MA in Writing for Children, he is developing his own illustrations and picture book ideas.

His illustration on the UV2016 anthology was called ‘The Giant Was Furious With Jack’ illustrating Jack and the Tower Block

Hannah Mosley tells stories on paper and screen for small folk, and on skin for big folk.

When not illustrating, writing or tattooing, she can be found up a trapeze, adventuring on bikes, or being a real-life wicked stepmother.

She lives in Manchester, England.

Angela Murray is from Glasgow but now lives in Hamburg.

She studied film and went on to work as a camera assistant before making her own short films.

These won many prizes at children’s film festivals around the world.

Website: www.fraumurray.com

Twitter: @frau_murray

As an Innovation Consultant, new ideas are Heather’s bread and butter, but her real passion is telling stories that make people smile.

Heather’s writing has been reviewed as “witty and inventive” (British Theatre Guide) and “hilariously funny” (Broadwaybaby).

Her entry in the UV2016 anthology was called Spyders: Flash & The Cagey Bees.

Shana (alias Shanarama) enjoys writing and illustrating a range of work, from Picture Books and Children’s fiction to Graphic Novels.

When she’s not cooking up her next adventure on paper, she’s living one with her lively family who, she has to say, all provide rather a lot of inspiration!

She was featured in the PaperBound Magazine (Winter 2020) after winning a competition.

Awards: Runner up for the 2018 Stratford Literary Festival Children’s Competition.

Agent: Davinia Andrew-Lynch, Andlyn Literary Agency

Instagram: @shanaramadesigns

Twitter: @Shanarama_ns

Website: Shanarama.co.uk

Emma grew up underwater, catching sea creatures on Gibraltar’s shores or suspended in a good story.

As a child psychologist she became passionate about difference and disability, and wanted to immerse children in the beauty of an underwater world most can never see; a world humans are destroying.

Claire is a children’s author with over 25 years’ experience. She was a UV2010 winner for Cordelia Codd: Not Just the Blues, which became the first in a trilogy of middle-grade novels. Since then, she has written a wide range of funny stories and fairy tale retellings for major UK publishers. Claire is a SCBWI Southeast network co-ordinator and a tutor at Oxford Centre for Fantasy.

She recently established The Really Chilled Writing Retreat to give authors and illustrators precious time and space.

Books: Barnparty (Kingfisher MacMillan, 1996); Cordelia Codd: Not Just the Blues (Orchard, 2012); Cordelia Codd: Frankly, Ruby, I Don’t Give a Damn! (Orchard, 2013); Cordelia Codd: 3: It’s Alive! (Orchard, Oct 2015); In Absolutely Awful Adults (OUP, 2014): Mr McMeanie: Minister for Child Control, Mr Splatter’s Dreadful Dinners and Mr Peacock: the Brightest Headmaster; Pinnochio (OUP Greatest Stories, 2016); The Wind in the Willows (OUP, 2016); The Terrifying Teacher (Franklin Watts, 2016); A Job for George and Milo (OUP, 2017); Team On! (OUP, 2017); and Asteroid Alert! (OUP – 2017

Awards: Barnparty shortlisted for The Times Educational Supplement Primary English Award, 1996, Cordelia Codd: Not Just the Blues – Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week, June 18th 2012 and Daily Record Summer Reading Choice, 2012.

Agent: Alice Williams, David Higham Associates

Twitter: @claireobriennow

Website: www.claireobrien.co.uk

Since completing his Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford, Matthew has been working to create stories with LGBTQ+ characters and third culture kids for middle grade and young adult readers. He also enjoys finding unique approaches to voice and humour in his writing, which earned him recognition in his UV entry, The Spy Who Grounded Me.

Matthew lives with his husband and their two children in the Netherlands, where he works as a teacher-librarian at the Amsterdam International Community School. His family also runs a restaurant, so you usually know where you can find him writing in the evenings and weekends.

Awards: Runner-up 2018 A.M. Heath Prize and Nominee 2016 Pushcart Prize

Twitter: @matthewolsonroy

Instagram: @matthewolsonroy

Website: www.matthewolsonroy.com

Undiscovered Voices was a wonderful experience for Olivia, as it lead to her developing her black and white illustration style.

She also enjoys using watercolours and sketching outdoors. Now she is delighted to be represented by the wonderful Plum Pudding Illustration Agency.

Agent: Plum Pudding Illustration

Instagram: @oliviadrawsandpaints

Sarah has studied Graphic Design and, more recently, Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art.

She would love to write and illustrate books for children.

She also loves cats, drinking tea and creating imaginary creatures.

Deborah studied general illustration at the North East Wales Institute but a love of stories led her to the wonderful world of children’s illustration.

She is happiest with her tin of watercolours, paintbrush in hand and freshly stretched paper, drawing as many different animals as she can.

Her illustration for the Undiscovered Voices 2016 Anthology was entitled “The Race To Get Dry” illustrating Alice of Wonderland Road – Remarkable Tales of a Runaway.

Agent: Beehive Illustration Agency

Twitter: @debillustration

Website: www.debpartington.com

Serena Patel is the author of the Anisha, Accidental Author series which won the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Award for Fiction and the CrimeFest award for Children’s Crime Fiction. There are now six books in the series. Serena was also co-editor and contributor for The Very Merry Murder Club which was a Waterstones Book of The Month and also hit the Children’s and YA Bestseller chart.

Serena believes all children deserve to feel seen in the stories they read and that books are an important tool for empathy.

When she’s not writing Serena enjoys watching movies, reading and eating cake. Chocolate cake preferred.

Books: Anisha, Accidental Detective (Usborne, 2020), Anisha, Accidental Detective: Schools Cancelled (Usborne, 2020),  Anisha, Accidental Detective: Granny Trouble (Usborne, July 2021), Anisha, Accidental Detective: Show Stoppers (Usborne, October 2021), Anisha, Accidental Detective: Holiday Adventure (Usborne, March 2022), Anisha, Accidental Detective: Fright Night (Usborne, September 2022), The Very Merry Murder Club (Farshore, HB 2021 and PB 2022), Picture Perfect (Barrington Stoke, July 2022)

Agent: Kate Shaw, The Shaw Agency

Awards: Winner of the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Prize for Fiction 2020. Winner of the CrimeFest award for Children’s Crime Fiction. Shortlisted: Blue Peter Book Awards, Lollies, British Book Awards

Twitter: @serenakpatel

Website: www.serenakpatel.com

Nicola was approached by two agencies as a result of Undiscovered Voices, although is currently unrepresented. She illustrated freelance for the greetings and homeware markets, working for clients such as Hallmark, American Greetings and Whistlefish Galleries, before working full time for a Greetings card company designing cards for major supermarkets and card retailers.

She is still a freelance illustrator in her spare time working with a company called Artistic Britain who produce canvas prints of her artwork and market them to various retailers such as Homesense, The Range, and Dunelm Mill.

She also likes to paint portraits but mainly just for the fun of it!

Her illustration for the Undiscovered Voices 2012 Anthology was entitled “Viking makes a discovery”.

Website: www.nicolapattenillustration.com

Tumblr: nicolapatten.tumblr.com

Bryony Pearce lives in the Forest of Dean. When not writing, she can be found reading and mentoring for Cornerstones, The Writing Coach and The Book Edit. She also teaches a creative writing course at City university (Writing for Children) and in her ‘spare’ time, is usually ferrying teenagers around, reading, or binge-watching TV shows.

BOOKS: MG: Hannah Messenger and the Gods of Hockwold (2024) YA: Angel’s Fury (Egmont, 2011), The Weight of Souls (Strange Chemistry, 2013), Phoenix Rising (Stripes, June 2015), Wavefunction (Telos, 2016), Phoenix Burning (Stripes, 2016) Windrunner’s Daughter (Telos, 2017), Savage Island (Stripes, 2017), Raising Hell (UCLAN, 2021), and Cruel Castle (Stripes, 2021).

Adult Books: The Girl on the Platform (Avon, 2021) Little Rumours (2022)

Short stories in anthologies: Now we are Ten, Stories from the Edge, Once Upon a Parsec, Soot and Steel, No More Heroes and Criminal Pursuits.

Short stories elsewhere: Daily Express, Parsec Magazine

Agent: Catherine Pellegrino, Marjacq.

Awards: Leeds Book Award, Wirral Schools Book Award, The Cheshire Schools Book Award 2013. Longlisted for Branford Boase 2012. Shortlisted for Dagger Award 2022

Twitter: @BryonyPearce

Website: www.bryonypearce.co.uk

Nicola lives in north London with her four children, husband and two Siamese cats.

She loves adventures with her children, out in green spaces, and loves bedtime too, because of the amazing worlds you find in children’s books.

Nicola’s first book, and her shortlisted UV entry, is Where the World Turns Wild and was published by Little Tiger Press in 2020. It was chosen as a BookTrust secondary school library pack title for 2020/21.

Books: Where the World Turns Wild (Little Tiger Press, 2020) and Between Sea and Sky (Little Tiger Press, July 2021).

Awards: Where the World Turns Wild – Shortlisted: Alexandra Palace Biblio-Buzz Children’s Book Award, the Calderdale Children’s Book of the Year, the Cumbria Secondary Schools Library Book Award and Dudley Children’s Book Award

Agent: Gillie Russell, Found

Website: www.nicolapenfold.com

Twitter: @nicolapenfold

Instagram: @nicolapenfoldauthor

Esther is an illustrator and art teacher originally from Spain.

She has published three children books and her drawings and animations were used to celebrate El Museo del Prado´s 200 anniversary.

She lives on the South coast of Spain and teaches art at the high school level, she loves writing, playing the piano, and all artistic things.

You can find her now working on a book full of artistic experiments and defending environmental causes.

Books: We Defeated the Queen Coronavirus (2020), The Knight of the Broken Castle (2018), and La Bruja Pinreles (2018).

Awards: 2020 First prize, Versiona Thyssen Contest; 2016 Undiscovered Voices Award; 2015 SAIC Leadership Award; 2014 Morton Salt GirlScholarship; 2014 Dean´s List SAIC; and 2012 Merit’s Scholarship SAIC.

Website: www.estherpeces.com

Instagram: @egpeces

Twitter: @egpeces

Janet’s favourite aspects of teaching were introducing children to the wonders of art and storybooks; now she’s retired, she is busy putting her own ideas on paper.

Turtles, dolphins, spooky creatures and naughty children all bounce around, having a party in her imagination!

Rachel graduated from the Cambridge MA in Children’s Book Illustration in 2017.

She exhibits her artwork in Buckinghamshire and Oxford and makes designs for an online craft outlet.

Her UV winning illustration in 2012 was entitled ‘By the Light of the Moon,’ and depicted a singing baboon.

Books: Colin the Chameleon (Starfish Bay Publishing, 2018), Polly and the New Baby (Oxford University Press, 2019) and Bertie’s Bottom (Starfish Bay Publishing, 2020)

Awards: Stratford-Salariya Children’s Book Prize shortlist 2017.

Website: www.rachelquarry.co.uk

Instagram: @rachelquarry

Twitter: @rachelquarry

Matt Ralphs worked as an editor for many years, and now writes children’s non-fiction and middle grade fiction, often with a focus on history, myths and folklore.

He lives on the Grand Union Canal on a boat called Nostromo.

Books: Fire Girl (Macmillan Childrens Books, 2015), Fire Witch (Macmillan Children’s Books, 2016), Skyward Bound (Oxford University Press, 2019), Season of the Witch (Flying Eye Books, 2020), Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: The Art of the Game (Titan Books, 2021), Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Art of the Game (Titan Books, 2021) Norse Myths (Dorling Kindersley Ltd, July 2021) Secrets of the Dead (Nosy Crow, 2022), Transported: 50 Vehicles That Changed the World (Nosy Crow, 2022) Little Sure Shot (Anderson Press, 2023), Automotive: A Visual History of Automobiles (Big Picture Press, April 2023)

Agent: Alice Williams, Alice Williams Literary

Website: www.mattralphswriter.com

Twitter: @MattRalphs2

Paula writes thrillers for Young Adults and enjoys doing author visits to schools around the country.

She also loves being a writer in residence for ‘First Story’.

She’s written four novels and her short stories have been published in anthologies for YA and adults.

She lives in Nottingham with her family.

Books: The Truth About Celia Frost (Usborne, 2011), Blood Tracks (Usborne, 2013), These Seven (Five Leaves Publishing, 2015), Stories From The Edge – YA anthology (Albury Books, 2016), Shell (Scholastic 2018) and The New Boy (Scholastic, 2019).

Awards: The Truth About Celia Frost won The Leeds Book Award 2012, Nottingham Brilliant Book Award and The Sefton Super Reads Award 2012. Shortlisted for The East Midlands Book Award, SCBWI Crystal Kite Award, Stockport Book Award, Rib Valley Award, Oldham Book Award, and St. Helens Book Award. Longlisted for the Branford Boase and Southern Schools Award.
Blood Tracks won the Rib Valley Book Award 2014 and was shortlisted for The Leeds Book Award 2014, The North East Teen Book Award, and The St. Helen’s Book Award.
Shell won The North East Teen Book Award, The Derbyshire Book Award, The Hampshire Book Award, The NWS Speculative Fiction Award. Shortlisted for The GDST Book Award, Warwickshire Book Award, and The Lancashire Book Award

Agent: Clare Conville, Conville and Walsh

Website: Paula Rawsthorne

Twitter: @PaulaRawsthorne

I have always loved playing with paper, back when I studied textiles I spent all my time dyeing, stitching and cutting up paper into intricate shapes. I drew on it and constructed three dimensional shapes using dressmaking techniques and enjoying the textures and happy accidents. Now I do the same, painting, cutting, dyeing, printing and drawing to create textures to illustrate picture books.

Every image starts with drawing so I can work out the shape and personality of the animal or person I am illustrating. I really enjoy observational drawing but it’s playing with paint, scissors and glue that I really enjoy and that is when my work starts to come alive. I try to embrace mistakes as a sign of creation by human hands and incorporate them into my work.

Books:

One Fox, A Counting Book Thriller (Two Hoots/Pan Macmillan, 2019), BOO! A Fishy Mystery, (Two Hoots/Pan Macmillan 2021), The Littlest Elephant (Two Hoots/Pan Macmillan 2022), The Big Bad Bug (2023) Birds of a Feather (Nosy Crow / National Trust, 2022)

Agent: Hilary Delamere and Jessica Hare at The Agency

Awards: winner of the Teach Early Years Awards, 2021, shortlisted for the UKLA book awards, 2021, winner of the Mathical Book Prize, 2020, shortlisted for the Klaus Flugge Prize, 2020, shortlisted for the Waterstones Childrens Book Prize, 2020, Ezra Jack Keats Honouree, 2020, shortlisted for The Cambridgeshire Libraries ‘Read it Again Award’ 2020, shortlisted for the ‘Queen’s Knickers ‘Award, the Society of Authors, 2020, New York Public Library recommended list, 2019, winner of the Cybils Awards – Fiction Picture Book, 2019, Awarded a Kirkus Star, 2019. Gold Award from the Parent’s Choice Foundation, 2019. Shortlisted for the Batsford Prize and Picturehooks, 2018.

Website: www.kateread.co.uk

Author of three picture books, and shortlisted for SCBWI’s Undiscovered Voices 2014, Rachel Rivett has an MA in Writing for Children from Winchester University.

She is currently writing a new novel– in snatched and borrowed moments – alongside a series of practical books that nurture Creativity.

Books: Little Grey and the Great Mystery (Lion Hudson, 2006), Are You Sad, Little Bear? (Lion Hudson, 2009), and I Imagine (Lion Hudson, 2011).

Short stories: ‘Seal Woman’, The Forgotten and the Fantastical 2 (Mother’s Milk Books, 2016) ‘The Salt Child’, The Forgotten and the Fantastical 3 (Mother’s Milk Books, 2017), ‘Wild Man’, The Forgotten and the Fantastical 4 (Mother’s Milk 2018), ‘Airpocalypse’, Nothing Is As It Was (Retreat West Books, 2017) and ‘Brick’, The Word For Freedom (Retreat West Books, 2018).

Website: writewild.weebly.com

Bronwen Roscoe trained as a journalist, started her career as an editor and works for the BBC.

She lives in Surrey with her husband and three sons and is studying for a master’s at UCL.

When she is not working, writing or studying, she spends time with her children, who mostly ignore her.

Agent: Sallyanne Sweeney, Mulcahy Associates

Portia was born in Manchester, studied Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge and still lives there.

She loves drawing, and loves depicting character and liveliness; faces are consistently the focus of her work. She feels equally interested in both serious and humorous subjects.

Her illustration in the UV2016 anthology was called ‘Bring Your Pet To School Day’ illustrating (Cinder) Ella Grubb and the School for Princesses.

Portia also illustrated the adult fiction titles Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke (Bloomsbury, 2004), The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas (The Folio Society, 2011) and The Ghost Hunters by Neil Spring (Quercus Books, 2013).

Website: www.portiarosenberg.com

Born and raised in Yorkshire, now living in the south, Gerry’s had a lot of different jobs – teacher, waitress, fitness instructor, lecturer, croupier, charity manager – to name a few.

She has an MA in Creative Writing and writes YA for the teenage self who still lives in her head.

An avid writer from an early age, Abbie won several competitions for young writers.

After studying English Literature with Creative Writing at the UEA, Abbie began a career in publishing.

She currently edits literacy resources for primary schools.

Abbie Rushton was featured in the 2010 Anthology as Abbie Todd.

Books: Unspeakable (Atom Books, 2015) and Consumed (Atom Books, 2016).

Agent: Jodie Hodges, United Agents

Twitter: @Abbietheauthor

Lauren lived in the fantastic city of London before moving to Boulder, Colorado, where she lives happily with her husband.

After days spent writing, she goes biking, hiking, or hangs out with her family or friends, unless a sunny spot with a book calls her first.

Books: Vivian Divine Is Dead (Katherine Tegen Books, 2014) and Lies to Live By (Katherine Tegen Books, 2016).

Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writer’s House

Twitter: @laurensabel

Website: www.laurensabel.com

Since Undiscovered Voices, Susan has taken part in The Hook at the annual SCBWI Conference in Winchester.

She continues to write gritty, emotional books for people of all ages.

She is a media lecturer in a sixth form college near Southend, which is a constant source of inspiration for her writing.

Books: Susan’s short story ‘Sea Canaries’ is included in Tony Bradman’s acclaimed anthology, Under the Weather, published by Frances Lincoln.

Twitter: @SusanSandercock

As well as a writer of children’s fiction and non-fiction, Kate Scott is a children’s TV scriptwriter, script-editor, storyline consultant, poet, and playwright. She is currently the Head Writer for a new pre-school animation series for a major broadcaster, has just completed a new middle-grade manuscript and is working on her third poetry collection. She has written for shows on CBeebies, C5, CITV, Disney, Apple and Netflix. She was the script-editor for the animation-film, A Christmas Letter, narrated by Kate Winslet (Sky). Her plays have been performed at fringe festivals and her poetry broadcasted on BBC Radio 4.

Kate co-founded the Book Pen Pals programme with Sara O’Connor in May 2018.

Books: Thirty-eight titles published in approximately nine countries to date including: five novels published with Piccadilly Press (Bonnier) – the Spies in Disguise series (2013, 2014, 2015) and the standalone novels Giant (2017) and Just Jack (2018); five educational fiction titles and one non-fiction title published with HarperCollins (2011 to 2021); seven educational fiction titles and nine non-fiction titles published with Oxford University Press (2013 to 2023); two educational fiction titles published with Pearson (2013); two non-fiction titles published under the Rising Stars imprint (Hodder, 2019); two non-fiction titles published in the Penguin Random House Extraordinary Lives series (both 2019); poetry collections with Peterloo Poets and HappenStance (2003, 2010) and work in several poetry anthologies.

Awards: Winner: Lancashire Fantastic Book Awards 2015 (for Spies in Disguise: Boy in Tights). Giant shortlisted for the North Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards 2017, nominated for the Lancashire Fantastic Book Awards 2018, longlisted for the 2018 Shrewsbury Bookfest Big Book Award, and shortlisted for the Portsmouth Shorter Novel Book Award 2018; Just Jack shortlisted for the North Somerset Teachers’ Book Awards 2018 (Quality Fiction category), the Portsmouth Shorter Novel Book Award 2019 and nominated for the Lancashire Fantastic Book Awards 2019–2020

Agents: Eve White, Eve White Literary Agency (Books) and Jean Kitson, Kitson Press Associates (Scriptwriting)

Twitter: @KateScottWriter and @BookPenPals

Website: www.evewhite.co.uk and www.kitsonpress.co.uk

Paula is a children’s writer and former journalist from Hampshire. She holds an MA with distinction in Writing for Children and her work features in publications such as The Caterpillar, The Toy, Tyger Tyger and The Dirigible Balloon. Since winning UV2022 Paula is delighted to have signed with her agent.

Books: Chasing Clouds – Brilliant Adventures in a Poetry Balloon (Yorkshire Times Publishing 2022)

Agent: Catherine Pellegrino, Marjacq

Twitter: @PaulaPageturner

Instagram: paula.pageturner

Born in Glasgow, Deborah has lived in lands near and far, including the Philippines, India and Wales, and the Isle of Bute where she became a full-time artist in 2015.

She is inspired by a love of stories and animals of all furs and feathers.

Books: Ape with a Cape (Starfish Bay Publishing, 2020) and The Debonair Bear (Starfish Bay Publishing, TBC).

Website: www.deborahsheehy.com

Thanks to Undiscovered Voices, Tioka received incredibly helpful feedback from agents and editors on her YA crime story The Stone Cutter which was selected for the 2014 anthology.

She’s currently working on several stories for teens that are full of tough girls, hot boys, and large quantities of danger.

When Tioka isn’t in a Paris cafe downing hot chocolate and working out how to get troubled characters into more trouble, she can be found in her neighbourhood yoga studio, bumbling through downward facing dog.

Tioka has worked as a journalist for television networks in New York, a teacher and ministry of education consultant in various countries, and as an acquisition reader for French publishers.

Website: www.tiokatokedira.com

Jacob seems destined to travel through life with the purpose of covering any available paper with drawings.

To fund this expedition he has worked in stage design, storyboarding, sandwich-making, web design and teaching.

His last decade has been spent in librarianship, where he spends his days surrounded by children’s books.

Website: www.jacobturner.co.uk

Instagram: @JacobTurnerArt

Twitter: @JacobTurnerArt

Mariam is a scriptwriter and children’s author. She is currently working on a new novel for 6-8 year olds called GROSS Academy. After completing an M.A. in Creative Writing, she also has fun running creative writing workshops in schools.

Books: Hairy Sticky Tape and The Fairy Cupboard in the children’s anthology WOW! 366 (Scholastic) and the Bug Buddies series (Harper Collins) written under the name of Joe Miller – The Big Game, Enemy Attack, Ant Invasion, Tunnel Trouble, Beetle Power, and Slime Time.

LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/pub/mariam-vossough

Sally has a love of experimenting in the print room and combining with digital techniques to create her artwork.

She loves creating shapes and textures and lets that lead her work.

She’s a recent MA Children’s Book Illustration graduate from CSA.

Awards: Silver Award 2016 Golden Pinwheels, Finalist in the Tragaluz International Illustration award 2017, and Shortlisted Communication Arts 2017 Illustration awards.

Agent: Jen Rofé, Andrea brown Literary Agency

Website: https://www.sallywalkerillustration.com

Instagram: @sallywalkerillustration

Twitter: @MrsWalker_Draws

Annie Walmsley has taught a variety of subjects including English, drama and EFL.

She has always been an avid reader and writer and now spends as much time as she can writing.

She resides in deepest, darkest Cornwall and has recently been published in the Guardian.

With a background in languages and book history, Julia worked as a literary translator before deciding to go back to art college and pursue her dream to write and illustrate children’s books.

She is now involved in various art and illustration projects.

Agent: Maria Bogade, Wundergarden

Website: www.juliawaltherstudio.com

Bing Wang was born in Shanghai and raised in NYC by a family of artists.

She loves art, books and languages and has over 20 years’ experience as an illustrator and comic strip artist.

She currently lives in Holland with her husband and daughter who also can’t stop drawing.

Her illustration in the UV2016 anthology was called – ‘Out Of The Pan’ illustrating Hansel and Gretel and the Great Witch Rescue.

Laura is a MG writer from Norfolk and grew up in a small village just outside Norwich. Nothing ever happened there, so a good imagination was essential for passing the time! She’s had a variety of jobs including one in a local school, where she fought a long battle against the terror that was the lost property cupboard.

Laura was selected for Undiscovered Voices in 2020 with a book called The Great Prime Minister Swap. Now that she realises that everything she writes comes true, she will be embarking on a new project called Laura Wins the Lottery. Since UV, she has been shortlisted for the Penguin Books Write Now 2021, the Write Mentor Children’s Novel Award 2022 and All Stories. She has written for Ladybird Books and is currently working on a project for Oxford University Press.

Laura loves characters that perhaps haven’t had things easy but approach life with optimism and humour. In her own writing she takes a lot of inspiration from the area where she lives and families that she’s known whilst working in schools. There are so many stories that never get told and she feels strongly that all children’s lives should be represented in books. Why shouldn’t children from council estates get to go on brilliant adventures and believe that they have the power to change the world?

Katie is a Liverpool-based illustrator who works in both traditional and digital media. She graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in 2001 with a B.A. Hons in Graphic Arts.

As a direct result of being a finalist in Undiscovered Voices 2016, she is now represented by Angharad Kowal of Writers House UK and is currently developing several picture book concepts. 

Her illustration in the UV2016 anthology was called ‘Jack Investigates’ illustrating Jack and the Tower Block. Her work can be viewed here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/katieweymouth/

Agent: Angharad Kowal of Writers House UK

Imogen knows first-hand what an amazing platform UV is for new writers—having been one of the finalists for the UV2014 anthology, she gained an agent and a two-book deal with Usborne, which saw her UV entry become The Rose Muddle Mysteries. She also wrote The Palace Cat for London’s Fulham Palace, and her ELVA stories are displayed at Brighton Museum.

In 2020, Imogen started a copywriting business in sunny Hastings, where she lives. She is also a weekly volunteer at a local crisis charity, helping vulnerable people with their creative writing and co-runs Now You See Me—an Arts Council England (ACE) funded project that gives a public platform to underrepresented community voices, so they can be heard, seen and valued. Imogen continues to write stories and mentor new writers too, which she loves.

Books: The Amber Pendant: The Rose Muddle Mysteries (Usborne, June 2017) and The Secret Ruby: The Rose Muddle Mysteries (Usborne, 2018). Her short stories, ELVA, (2019) are on permanent display at Brighton Museum, she also wrote The Palace Cat for Fulham Palace (2021).

Awards: Debut of the month LoveReading4Kids June 2017. Longlisted: The North Somerset Teachers’ Book Award 2018.

Website: MysteryVerse

Twitter: @imo0030

Instagram: @imogenwhitebooks

Yona lives in Devon with 3 tame cats and one wild son.

Since becoming a mum, she writes in the tiny scraps of time between being a character from someone else’s book, chasing up hills, flying to the moon, mud squelching…

Oh, and the day job, making videos and websites.

Twitter: @darkhourmuse

Website: www.wisemanproductions.com

Rachel Wolfreys lives in Manchester with her family.

She is lucky enough to have a job in which she talks about books all day – she’s an English teacher.

As well as books, she loves music, theatre, her dog, the seaside and spending time with family. And Manchester Utd, of course. 

Rachel’s novel A Strange Kind of Dreaming was longlisted for the Times / Chicken House Prize in 2016.

Harriet writes flash fiction, middle grade and young adult.

Writing started as a form of therapy and is still an escape from the day!

She lives in Cheshire with her daughter and too many animals!

o Wyton is a geologist with a thoroughly impractical interest in rocks and an even more impractical interest in writing.

She can usually be found scribbling madly with one hand whilst propping up a growing tower of notebooks with the other.

Occasionally, she can be found buried under them.

Blog: Jo Wyton Blog