Panel: Show me the real author

Show me the real author

Revealing the behind-the-scenes, day-to-day life of an author – the highs, the lows, and everything in between

*All panels are pre-recorded – check the timetable to see when it will be available but you can watch at your leisure

Jenny Pearson is the author of the LOLLIES award winning book, The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates, The Incredible Record Smashers and Grandpa Frank’s Great Big Bucket List. She also co-authored Tuchus and Topps Investigate the Underpants of Chaos with Sam Copeland

Patrice Lawrence has won many prizes including the YA Prize, the Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction, the Crimefest YA Prize twice and the inaugural Jhalak Prize for Children and Young People. The Elemental Detectives, her Georgian fantasy middle grade is published in September 2022. She is an ambassador for the creative writing charity First Story.

Phil Earle is slightly obsessive about children’s fiction, so it isn’t a surprise that he decided to try and write some himself. His debut novel, Being Billy, was nominated for a dozen awards, including the Carnegie Medal and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. He lives with his family in London, writes on the bus and has no plans to write a novel for adults, although he might read one. One day.

[Chair] A.M. Dassu is the internationally acclaimed author of Boy, Everywhere, which has been listed for 25 awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Carnegie Medal, is the 2021 winner of The Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction and is also an American Library Association Notable Book. She is a director at Inclusive Minds, which is an organisation for people who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality and accessibility in children’s literature, and one of The National Literacy Trust’s Connecting Stories campaign authors, aiming to help inspire a love of reading and writing in children and young people. A. M. Dassu grew up in the Midlands dreaming of becoming a writer but studied economics instead and worked in marketing and project management before realising her dream. She writes books that challenge stereotypes, humanise the “other” and are full of empathy, hope and heart. Her latest novel, Fight Back is out now. You can also find her on Twitter @a_reflective or Instagram @a.m.dassu.