Patricia Elliot
Patricia Elliott's The Ice Boy won the Fidler Award for a first novel and was shortlisted for the Branford-Boase Award. Her Gothic fantasy, Murkmere, was longlisted for the Guardian Award, and followed by a companion novel, Ambergate. The Night Walker, her last, much-praised novel, is a fantasy thriller set in contemporary SW London. Patricia is currently working on the
'Pimpernelles' trilogy, set at the time of the French Revolution. The first of these, The Pale Assassin, is published in July, a story of romance, revolution and revenge.
Deborah Fajerman
Deborah Fajerman is the author/illustrator responsible for bringing the languages of cows and sheep to a wide audience. Her colourful and funny picture books How to Speak Moo and Baa for Beginners are available in the UK and America. Perfect for loud and giggly reading together with young children.
S. I. Martin is novelist and historian, specialising in Black British history and literature. His first children’s novel, Jupiter Williams, was published in 2007 to widespread critical acclaim. A thriller set in London in 1803, it follows the fortunes of young Jupiter who lives at the African Academy in Clapham with other boys from elite Sierra Leonean families. Jupiter’s search for his missing younger brother takes him far from the relative ease of life in Clapham into another London where poor black communities (slave and free) struggle for survival along the squalid reaches of the Thames …
His follow-up, Jupiter Amidships, is published this summer
Sarah Mussi’s first novel, The Door of No Return won the Glen Dimplex Children’s Book of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award. It is a mystery adventure starring Zac and his pact with his grandfather who is obsessed with a Return
to Africa plan and a lost ransom in gold belonging to his ancestors. As awarding judge, Kevin Crossley-Holland writes: ‘… a modern adventure novel rooted in the terrible actuality and legacy of the African slave trade.’
Her second novel, The Last of the Warrior Kings, published in April 2008, is a fast-paced tale which keeps you on the edge of your seat charting the downfall of Max, a black hoody from South London, who is determined to redress history and avenge his brother’s death by restoring the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria.
Peggy Woodford
Peggy Woodford has written over twenty books, mostly teenage fiction and novels for adults. She’s just published a new novel, this time for readers of 10 years up: One Son Is Enough, set in 18th century Ottoman Turkey. When twins Osman and Iskander are torn apart by the Sultan’s decree, Osman vows to free his brother from slavery in the royal palace, despite seemingly impossible odds – a huge country to cross, enemies at every turn, and an impregnable palace. Miranda, 11, says in a review ‘I couldn’t put it down.’ Peggy is now working on a new novel about young Italians caught up in the Siege of Constantinople, 1453.
