Superkid Award-winning team by Claire Freedman (author) and Sarah McIntyre (illustrator)

Claire Freedman is the successful author of over 50 picture books, including the Aliens in Underpants books, George’s Dragon and Tappity Tap! What Was That? She is best known for Aliens Love Underpants, which has gone on to become a huge best seller and was the winner of the Richard and Judy Children’s Book Club in 2007.

Claire left school at sixteen and was the worst secretary ever, a trainee buyer at Harrods and a dental nurse before becoming a full-time writer. Claire says “For me, writing is the best job ever. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. I love to create worlds for young children to enjoy and escape into.” She lives on the Essex coast with her husband and loves walking along the sea path, eating in her favourite beach-side café and catching up with friends.

Sarah McIntyre was born in Seattle. She studied Russian literature and art history at Bryn Mawr College and then earned a distinction while doing her Master’s degree in Illustration at Camberwell College of the Arts in London. She brings her love of travel and adventure to her work, and loves the thrill of being a perpetual tourist in London, where she has lived since 1999.

It was whilst studying for her MA that Sarah became interested in comics.‘I had loved comics as a kid, such as Calvin & Hobbes and Archie, but I had sort of lost my way as an adult, thinking comics were mostly about superheroes, which I didn’t like so much. When I was introduced to adult comics by people such as Posy Simmonds and Craig Thompson, I knew I had found a whole new world.’

She was commissioned by David Fickling to produce a comic strip for the ground breaking DFC. Her creation; Vern & Lettuce was immensely popular and Sarah used both her blog and Facebook to attract new friends and fans everyday, gaining the attention of The Guardian who featured the strip in their The Comic section on Saturdays.

Her picture book with Giles Andreae, Morris the Mankiest Monster, introduced the world to a loveable monster with stomach-turning personal habits, and won both the Sheffield and Bishop’s Stortford Children’s Book Awards, as voted by children. Sarah has gone on to create many more picture books including the very successful You Can’t Eat a Princess and the follow-up, You Can’t Scare a Princess!

In 2013, Sarah teamed up with Philip Reeve for Oliver and the Seawigs, bonkers fiction for young readers crammed with brilliant illustrations. This was swiftly followed by Cakes in Space, and Pugs of the Frozen North which won the Independent Bookshop Week Children’s Book of the Year Award.

Find out more about Sarah at www.jabberworks.co.uk