Children's Writers & Illustrators Festival 2024: MASTERCLASS+

Sandra A. Agard is a storyteller and author. She has worked for over forty years in libraries as a literature development consultant and is currently a Learning Facilitator for Schools at the British Library.

Sandra is an RSL Honorary Fellow and was awarded the 2022 Benson Medal for Services to Literature. 

Holly started her writing career as a news journalist, where she was nominated for Best Print Journalist of the Year. She then spent six years working as an editor, a relationship advisor, and general ‘agony aunt’ for a youth charity – helping young people with their relationships and mental health. Inspired by what she saw, she started writing teen fiction, including the best-selling, award-winning ‘Spinster Club’ series which helps educate teenagers about feminism. When she turned thirty, Holly wrote her first adult novel, examining the intensified pressures on women once they hit that landmark.

Alongside her writing, Holly has a keen interest in women’s rights and is an advocate for reducing the stigma of mental health problems. She’s helped create online apps that teach young people about sexual consent, works with Women’s Aid to spread awareness of abusive relationships, and runs Rethink’s mental health book club.

Camilla Chester describes herself as a dog walker who writes.

After receiving a distinction in a Diploma for Creative Writing and Literacy, Camilla went on to self-publish three children’s novels. She was a finalist in the National Literacy Trust New Author Award 2016 and Mslexia Children’s Novel Award 2019. Her traditionally published children’s novel, entitled Call Me Lion, was shortlisted for the Oxfordshire and Portsmouth Awards in 2023 and won the SCBWI 2023 Crystal Kite Award. Camilla also writes for the popular online school resources, Serial Mash and Fiction Express.

Camilla has a long history of supporting other writers both voluntary and through her freelance work. She has a very practical eye and likes nothing more than helping writers find the heart of their story.

I joined A.M.Heath in 2013 to run the children’s department, after four years building up the UK side of the Greenhouse Literary Agency, and six years at the Darley Anderson Agency where I started the children’s book side of the list.

I’m lucky to represent some fabulous writers, but I’m always on the lookout for new writing talent. I’m looking for debut and established authors with storytelling magic, from picture book texts right up to YA.

Charlotte began her career as a bookseller in independent bookshops in London and Melbourne, including Daunt Books and most recently running the children’s department at Foyles, Charing Cross Road, before becoming an agent in 2018. She has worked at Tibor Jones, on many of Wilbur Smith's recent co-authored titles and at the Jo Unwin Literary Agency where she worked with Eliza Clark and Caleb Femi. In 2022 she joined forces with former Penguin editor Kay Peddle to form Colwill & Peddle, an independent literary agency that represents a wide range of authors of commercial fiction, non-fiction and children's books.

Hannah Gold worked in the film and magazine industries before taking time out to pursue her dream of writing. She lives in Lincolnshire with her tortoise, her cat and her husband. The Last Bear was her middle-grade debut which became an inspirational, international bestseller on release in 2021 and has gone on to win a multitude of national awards including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Blue Peter Book Award 2022. Hannah’s books have sold over 280,000 copies worldwide and have been translated into 25 languages. Hannah is also an ambassador for Whale and Dolphin Conservation (https://uk.whales.org/)

Alysoun Owen is the Editor of the annual bestselling Writers' & Artists' Yearbook and the Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook, which provide advice and contacts for authors across all forms and genres on how to write and get published. She runs a publishing consultancy, is the author of the Writers' & Artists' Guide to Getting Published and is a regular speaker at literary and publishing-related events. www.writersandartists.co.uk

Rikin studied art at Camberwell College of Arts and then at the University of Westminster. After graduating he worked Freelance in the Film industry designing monsters and as a Storyboard Artist. He also worked as a bookseller at Borders right up until they ceased trading. He then worked for the online streaming company LOVEFiLM and then decided that he'd love to work in Primary schools as a Teaching Assistant so he could help children read, write and draw. He's currently working on a non-fiction series with Walker Books, finishing final art for the last book in the "Worst Class in the World..." series and lots of other fun projects!

Serena Patel is the author of the Anisha, Accidental Detective series which won the Sainsbury's Children's Book Award for Fiction in 2020 and The Week Junior Children's Book Award for Young Fiction in 2023. She lives in the West Midlands with her family and 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. 

Alex Wharton is an award-winning writer and performer of poetry for adults and children. His First Book of poetry for children, Daydreams and Jellybeans, was shortlisted for the Wales Book of The Year Award 2022, The North Somerset Teacher’s Book Awards, The Laugh Out Loud Book Awards and was named as a National Poetry Day Recommended Read.

Alex won the inaugural Rising Stars Wales Award in 2020 and is the Children’s Laureate Wales 2023-2025. He has collaborated with key national organisations such as Cadw, National Dance Company Wales, Welsh Government, British Council of Literature and Welsh Libraries, and has also appeared in festivals such as Hay Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Alex’s second and third collections of poetry Doughnuts, Thieves and Chimpanzees and Red Sky at Night: A Poet’s Delight will be published with Firefly Press in 2023 and 2024.

Follow Alex on Twitter @alexwhartonpoet and on Instagram @alexwharton_

Andrew is the CEO and founder of Action Your Potential. His company employs over 30 coaches offering 1:1 support as part of the Build a #NeuroNinja programme. The aim of this programme is to build #NeuroNinja, unleashing in parents, carers and children 14 powerful metacognitive skills to help them change their brain, change their mind and change their world. AYP started in 2018 and now works in 170 schools nationally, as well as with businesses and business leaders. They also offer individual and family subscriptions to support any interested individual to begin the journey to become a #NeuroNinja. A #NeuroNinja is someone who lives in their amazing brain, understanding how it works and living and working inside it in ways to get the most out of everyday.