What could be more beautiful than the laughter of children? That's why I write. You can find out more about me and my books, and read essays for children - and adults - on imagination and the craft of writing at http://mijkelly.com.

For notifications, give-aways and competitions, like "Mij Kelly's children's books" on Facebook.

Look out for Friendly Day, available from 2 August. It's a tall tale of idealism and unlikely friendships, beautifully illustrated by the amazing Charles Fuge. I'm immensely proud of it!

Hello and welcome to my Amazon page.

I started writing for children at the age of 40 when I was working as a library assistant.There were plenty of rejections before my first picture book came out in 2001, but since then I have had lots more published.It's always a huge thrill to see the illustrations for the first time.

As well as books in my own name,I have poems in many anthologies for children and I was a 'ghost writer' for the exciting Dinosaur Cove series under the pseudonym Rex Stone.

It's great fun being a full time writer and I love to visit primary schools to share my books and talk about being an author, and to run poetry and/or creative writing workshops.

You can find out more on my website www.jane-clarke.co.uk

FB @JaneClarkeChildrensAuthor

Twitter @JaneClarkeWrite

If you are interested in writing for children, I'd recommend checking out www.wordpool.co.uk and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators www.britishscbwi.org for invaluable help and advice.

Happy reading - and writing! Jane

Malachy lives on a tiny island off the coast of Donegal, with his wife Liz, Milo the nightcat, Juno the wavedog, and a load of ducks and chickens.

His 90+ books, for young people of all ages, have been translated into 23 different languages and have won many prizes internationally.

Malachy likes walking the beaches and mountains of Donegal, skimming stones in the sea, whistling, drinking Lapsang Souchong tea, making up stories, playing table tennis, going to traditional music sessions, laughing, reading and sleeping.

Malachy's latest publication is The Happy Book, a delightful picture book from Bloomsbury all about being happy.

Kaye Umansky was born in Plymouth, Devon, in 1946. Her mother was a music teacher, so she played piano and sang from an early age. She was an only child – and a big reader. She also tried her hand at writing stories. Her best ever present was an ancient typewriter, given to her when she was ten years old. She still has it in the loft. She came to London aged 18 to attend teachers’ training college. She taught in London primary schools in the 1970’s. She met her husband, a bass player, and they played in several semi pro soul bands. She still lives in north London, with her husband and two cats. She has a grown up daughter, three step children and three step grandchildren. Her first book, a song book entitled Phantasmagoria, was published in 1985. Since then, she was written over 140 titles, including the popular Pongwiffy series. She has written picture books, music books, musicals, plays, first readers and novels, all for the primary age range. Awards include the Nottinghamshire Book Award, the Times Educational Junior Music Book Award, the 2009 Stockton Book Of The Year and the Spoken Word Award. Favourite colour: red. Favourite food: cheese.

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

Joseph lives mostly in France in an old farmhouse which he restores during the summer months. Over the winter months he travels around the world living and working in wonderful and exotic places, occasionally settling down for long enough to write and illustrate a picture book. He speaks English, French and Spanish and is good at fixing things such as wooden boats and old stone houses.

He studied Illustration at Falmouth college of Arts and his first book 'Marvin wanted MORE!' is a winner of the Macmillan Prize for children's book illustrations. Both Marvin books are now sold around the world in many different languages.

Praise for Marvin Wanted MORE!

'Theobald makes a promising debut here. Working in stylized shapes and lines and using a bright, limited palette, he creates ostensibly serene, deadpan renderings that make Marvin's creature-feature metamorphosis all the funnier. Theobald understands his audience's taste for expulsive humor. ("Baaaaaa!" says Marvin, as he spews the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and other landmarks) to restore the natural order'

-Publishers Weekly

'My favourite book of the year...A quirky tale with gorgeously humorous illustrations, this is a marvellous first book. Joseph Theobalds simple and bold illustrations enhance this hilarious picture book.'

-Waterstone's Books Quarterly

'A delightful choice for storytimes, with enough hilarity to pull in older children.

-Schools Library Journal

'A masterpiece... a great first book from a very talented newcomer'

-Jane Simmons, creator of Come on, Daisy

Sean Taylor is an award-winning author of more than 60 books for young readers.

His picture books include the bestselling 'Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise' illustrated by Jean Jullien. Young readers are currently delighting in WHEN DINOSAURS WALKED THE EARTH! and his 'MONSTER! HUNGRY! PHONE!' series, which also features 'MONSTER! THIRSTY! DRINK!'. And he is the author of other popular picture books such as, 'HOW TO BE COOLER THAN COOL' 'KISS THE CROCODILE', 'THE SNOWBEAR', 'HUMPERDINK OUR ELEPHANT FRIEND', and 'ROBOT RUMPUS'.

For 6 - 8 year olds he has published 'WHERE THE BUGABOO LIVES!', illustrated by Neal Layton.

He has collaborated with Khayaal Theatre on the collection of funny Islamic folktales 'Riding a Donkey Backwards', and with the ecologist Alex Morss on the nature books 'WINTER SLEEP', 'BUSY SPRING', 'WILD SUMMER' and 'FUNNY BUMS FREAKY BEAKS AND OTHER INCREDIBLE CREATURE FEATURES'.

His novel for teenagers 'A WASTE OF GOOD PAPER' was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.

Sean and his family have spent spells living in England (where he was born) and Brazil (where his wife is from). Here are three other things you might not know about him:

He always listens to music when he is writing - usually music that's good to dance to.

Because of his connections with Brazil, he spends some of the time thinking in Portuguese.

Once, during carnival in Brazil, he dressed up as Robin Hood and fired arrows with poems on into the crowd.

Find out more at www.seantaylorstories.com.

On Twitter: @seantstories

On Instagram: @seantstories

Julia Donaldson has written some of the world's best-loved children's books, including modern classics The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which together have sold over 25 million copies worldwide and have been translated into over one hundred languages. Further books illustrated by Axel include Room on the Broom, Stick Man, Zog and The Smeds and the Smoos – all of which have been made into much-loved animated films by Magic Light Pictures. Her other books include The Hospital Dog illustrated by Sara Ogilvie, The Christmas Pine illustrated by Victoria Sandøy and the hugely successful What the Ladybird Heard adventures illustrated by Lydia Monks. Julia also writes fiction, including the Princess Mirror-Belle series illustrated by Lydia Monks which has been made into a successful CBBC series, as well as poems, plays and songs – and her brilliant live shows are always in demand. She was the UK Children’s Laureate 2011–13 and has been honoured with a CBE for Services to Literature. Julia and her husband Malcolm divide their time between West Sussex and Edinburgh.

Vivian French is the author of over two hundred books, including the wildly popular series Tales from the Five Kingdoms. She lives in Edinburgh.

The Robe of Skulls (9780744583618)

The Bag of Bones (9781406306248)

The Heart of Glass (9781406311143)

The Flight of Dragons (9781406319071)

"Vivian French is a sublime storyteller" Sunday Telegraph

Judith Kerr was born in Berlin, the daughter of a distinguished German writer. She left Nazi Germany with her family in 1933 and fled across Europe, eventually settling in England. Years later she wrote about her experiences in her best-selling novel for middle-grade readers When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. She is also the author and illustrator of numerous picture books, including The Tiger Who Came to Tea, which was first published in 1968 and has since sold more than one million copies worldwide.

Former Children's Poet Laureate (2013-15) Kenn Nesbitt is the author of many books for kids, including "Kiss, Kiss Good Night," "My Hippo Has the Hiccups," "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," and many others. His poems have appeared in numerous bestselling anthologies, including every book in the popular Kids Pick the Funniest Poems series, and anthologies with nearly two million copies in print. His work has been published in hundreds of school textbooks around the world, as well as national television programs, and numerous children's magazines. Kenn travels the country, visiting over 60 schools each year, sharing his wacky brand of poetry with kids nationwide, and helping to create a new generation of poetry lovers. His website, poetry4kids.com, is the most visited children's poetry website on the Internet.

My first books were about teenage life and came from my own experiences and concerns – I was fourteen when I discovered the immense and liberating power of writing and it was my main stay during my largely unhappy teenage years. I wasn't that interested in writing at primary school - I wanted to be a footballer - but I always loved reading. I was a big fan of The Narnia books by C S Lewis, Michael Hardcastle’s football stories and Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series My favourite books of all were a Mannchester United Football Year Book from 1969 signed “To Alan from George Best” (my all-time hero) and Meriol Trevor's The King of the Castle that I came across quite by chance looking along a library shelf one day. These books are still my most treasured possessions and were the biggest inspiration to me to become a writer.

I've written nearly eighty books now and most of them started as stories I made up to entertain my three children and their friends. I've won a number of prizes, most recently The Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children's Books for the picture book Billy Monster's Daymare. I write lots of different styles of books and for a wide age-range – from teenage thrillers to picture books. I also write poetry for children and adults. I’ve written spooky books, science-fiction, school stories, funny stories, horror (but not much because it scares me!), thrillers, football… Writing different styles of story about all sorts of different subjects keeps me on my toes and helps to entertain me. That's the first rule of being a writer: you have to entertain yourself - otherwise how can you hope to entertain anyone else?

My work was featured in the BBC series English Express, which won a Children’s Bafta Award. I also appeared in two programmes in the award-winning Let’s Write A Story series. I am a National Reading Campaign Reading Champion and a frequent visitor to schools, libraries and festivals around the UK and abroad where I give talks and readings and run writing workshops. I am a member of NAWE and The Society of Authors. I used to do all my writing in a garden shed, but I moved to Brighton in January 2010 and had to leave my shed behind. Maybe I'll find a beach hut to scribble in...

Isabel is an award-winning science writer and the author of more than 200 books about science and nature for young audiences. Her critically-acclaimed picture books Moth: An Evolution Story and Fox: A Circle of Life Story, illustrated by Daniel Egnéus, are both winners of the AAAS Subaru Prize for Excellence in Science Books, 2020 and 2023. Isabel also writes features for children’s science magazines The Week Junior Science+Nature and Whizz Pop Bang, and collaborates on outreach projects.

Isabel grew up in a low income, single-parent family and attended five different state schools before studying Human Sciences at the University of Oxford. She has devoted her career to inspiring children from diverse backgrounds to pursue science careers, including a research degree at the University of Cambridge exploring science education.

Website: www.isabelthomas.co.uk

Twitter: @isabelwriting

Instagram: @isabelthomasbooks

Karen Wallace is an award-winning author of children's books for all ages. The first in her series for younger readers, The Crunchbone Castle Chronicles, was selected for the Summer Reading Challenge in 2006. The Goose Pimple Bay Sagas was a World Book Day recommended read in 2008 and Li Fu's Great Aim was chosen for the 2008 Boys into Books promotion.

Fleur has worked as a shop assistant, a dinner lady and a curator. She has pulled up more dandelions than a person should and painted hundreds and hundreds of small wooden boats for her husband, who is a toymaker. She works as a children's bookseller, she has two almost grown up children and she lives in the West Country.

Her books are adventures, or mysteries or thrilling mysteries with added adventure. Dubbed as writing "thrillers for beginners" by the Sunday Times she continues to aim to keep her readers on the edges of their seats

Books for 7+

SHRUNK - 2012

THE TROUBLE WITH MUMMIES 2013

SHRUNK 2 (MAYHEM AND METEORITES 2014)

THE YOGHURT PLOT 2014

SUNK 2015

CLIFFTOPPERS THE ARROWHEAD MOOR ADVENTURE 2019

CLIFFTOPPERS THE FIRE BAY ADVENTURE 2019

CLIFFTOPPERS THE THORN ISLAND ADVENTURE 2020

CLIFFTOPPERS THE FROST CASTLE ADVENTURE 2020

Books for 9+

DEAR SCARLETT 2013

SAVING SOPHIA 2014

BUS STOP BABY 2016

MURDER IN MIDWINTER 2016

MURDER AT TWILIGHT 2018

THE BOY WHO FLEW 2019

WAITING FOR MURDER 2021

MOUSE HEART 2022

MURDER AT SNOWFALL 2022

Read Fleur's blog at https://fleurhitchcock.wordpress.com

A former broadcast journalist and special adviser to the Prime Minister (not this one), since leaving politics I've written more than 90 books for children and adults, including the UK bestselling The Worst Class in the World series, the Flying Fergus series with Sir Chris Hoy, and the Carnegie-nominated Joe All Alone, which is now a BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated BBC Drama. I've been a World Book Day author, a Blue Peter book of the month and Radio 4 and the i magazine Book of the Year, won the Fantastic Book Award and the Highland Book Prize, been nominated for the Carnegie Medal twice, and been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, Queen of Teen and the Big Book Awards among many others, and am published across multiple territories. I have a PhD in Creative Writing and am a Senior Lecturer in the subject at University of Bristol, as well as teaching for the Arvon Foundation.

I like: Paris, prom dresses, that bit in the West Wing where Donna tells Josh she wouldn't stop for a red light if he was in an accident, junk shops, Ladybird books, cake, crisps, Cornwall, St Custard's, Portuguese custard tarts, politics, pin-up swimsuits, the Regency, high heels, horses, old songs, old dresses, my Grandma's fur coat, vinyl, liner notes, the smell of old books, the feel of a velveteen monkey, quiffs, putting my hand in a bin of chicken feed, eating peanut butter from the jar, the bit where Johnny says 'no-one puts Baby in a corner', the 1950s, automata, fiddles, gigs in fields on warm summer nights, Bath, the bath.

Find out more at http://www.joannanadin.com

On Twitter: @joannanadin

On Instagram: @jonadin

Michael Morpurgo is one of Britain's best-loved children's book writers. He has written more than 100 books and has won the Smarties Prize, the Whitbread Award, and most recently the Blue Peter Book Award for PRIVATE PEACEFUL. He is also the author of WAR HORSE, which has been made into a Tony Award-winning Broadway play and a Golden Globe-nominated film. Michael was Writer in Residence at The Savoy Hotel from January to March 2007, and previously he was Children's Laureate from 2003-2005, a role that took him across Britain to inspire a love of reading in children. You can visit him online at www.michaelmorpurgo.com.

Photo by Georges Seguin (Okki) (English: Own work Français : Photo personnelle) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Jonathan Emmett has written over 60 books for children including 'Bringing Down the Moon', 'Someone Bigger' and 'The Princess and the Pig'. He developed his skills as a writer and illustrator while studying and working as an architect but left architecture to become a children’s author in 1995. His work has been translated into over 30 different languages and has won several awards both in the UK and abroad including the FCBG Red House Children’s Book Award for 'Pigs Might Fly' and the STEAM Children’s Book Prize for 'How the Borks Became: An Adventure in Evolution'.

You can find out more about Jonathan and his books at his web site jonathanemmett.com and follow him on Twitter at @JonathanEmmett.

Sally Morgan is an award winning author, botanist and organic gardener. Her latest books are The Climate Change Garden, The Healthy Vegetable Garden and Living on One Acre or Less.

She has written more than 250 children's information books, covering wildlife, natural history, science, geography, and environmental topics. She writes for all ages from first readers through to 16+ readership.

Sally read Natural Sciences at Cambridge which was followed by several years of research into the restoration of derelict land. She then taught biology for a few years before turning to writing. With her love of the natural world and her concerns about the loss of habitats worldwide, it was not surprising that she chose to write about wildlife and environmental issues.

She is lucky enough to own a small organic farm in Somerset. When she is not writing she can be found on the farm looking after her rare breed poultry or weeding the kitchen garden! Conservation is important to her and the farm is managed to improve biodiversity. Keen to connect people with their food, Sally runs courses on smallholding, gardening and butchery on the farm..

Hello!

I write information and story books for children. I often visit schools as an author, when I love making up stories with kids and where I have learned that all staff rooms are pretty much the same!

My latest fiction title is an ebook, called Spacetoyz, Bananas and the End of the World - can geeky Kevin stop an alien invasion with a piece of fruit? Find out!

My information books cover lots of topics, particularly history and animals. The latest ones are about the doomed Titanic ship.

I have the same name as a very successful American composer of TV music - it's sometimes a shock to see 'my' name on the credits at the end of a programme. I wonder if he knows who I am!

There's more info at www.seancallery.co.uk

Sue Purkiss, author of Jack Fortune and the Search for the Hidden Valley, lives in the mysterious and magical county of Somerset, in England, the county of Glastonbury and the Somerset Levels, wreathed in mist and legends of King Arthur - his body and that of Guinevere, are said to have been found in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey. But it's also the place where a real historical figure, Alfred the Great, sought shelter in the hour of his greatest danger, at Athelney, the Isle of Princes, just a stone's throw away from Glastonbury.

This landscape inspired Sue to write Warrior King: a book for children - and adults - about Alfred. In the process, she discovered that he had a remarkable daughter, Aethelfled, who features strongly in the book. It's a story of adventure, suffused with a sense of history and of place, and with a touch of magic.

The landscape also played a part in her contemporary story, The Willow Man: the figure in the title, a huge giant woven from Willow, can still be seen near Bridgwater. But this story is mainly about the challenges faced by three children, which reach a climax when one of them, Sophie, is stricken with a sudden illness and needs all her resources, and the help of her brother Tom and his friend Ash - together with a dash of magic from the Willow Man, to recover.

Her popular book Emily's Surprising Voyage is inspired, not by a place this time, but by a ship: the SS Great Britain, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, which has been beautifully restored and can be visited in nearby Bristol. It follows the adventures of Tom, a working class boy, and Emily, who comes from a wealthy family: both are travelling on board the Great Britain as she travels from Liverpool to Australia in the mid 19th century.

She travelled further back in time to write about orphan Jack Fortune, in Jack Fortune and the Search for the Hidden Valley, which is set in the late 18th century. Jack has always wanted to be an explorer, and he gets his chance when his hitherto rather stuffy Uncle Edmund astonishes everyone by declaring he is off to the Himalayas to hunt for new varieties of plants to bring back to Britain. Aunt Constance, who is Jack's guardian, seizes the chance to offload her troublesome charge, telling Edmund it's time for him to take responsibility: he must take Jack with him! Jack is delighted - but he finds that the Himalayas hold a number of unexpected challenges. In the end, it is up to him to save the expedition from disaster.

A Time To Live is set in Occupied France in 1942, and is a shorter novel in diary form for teenagers. It tells the story of a British airman who has been shot down - and must rely on a French farmer's family to save him from capture.