Read & Respond Authors
Find out more about the authors behind our renowned literacy series, Read & Respond
Louise Carruthers is the author of 50 Literacy Lessons for Less Able Learners. She has also contributed to ‘Activities for including children with behavioural difficulties’. She is an experienced primary teacher currently teaching in a school for children with moderate learning difficulties.
Pam Dowson is a retired primary school teacher and PGCE tutor in Primary English. Pam is currently an independent literacy consultant who now writes.
Jean Evans is an early years consultant and nursery inspector. For many years she ran her own nursery school and she has also been head of an LEA nursery unit/Early Years co-ordinator. She is the author of Themes on Display: All About Me, Themes on Display Festivals, Skills for Early Years Constructing and Making, Skills for Early Years Social Skills and Early Years Around the Year Personal, Social and Emotional Development. She is a regular contributor to Early Years Activity Bank and Nursery Education magazine.
James Friel has taught in the Japanese, Chinese and French education systems and is co-founder of Edit24 editorial services. Currently, he is a teacher in Alloa, Scotland.
Gill Friel is currently a headteacher in Stirling. She has worked in teacher education and is the author of several literacy publications.
Nikki Gamble is a visiting lecturer at the University of London, Institute of Education, a freelance writer and an education consultant. She is a former primary school teacher. She is Director of Write Away UK and runs the Write Away website www.writeaway.org.uk which promotes literature to children and teachers.
Elspeth Graham is a freelance educational writer. She has written for many different publishers, including Longman, OUP and PCET.
Qualified as a teacher in 1971. 3 children, break from work to bring them up. Returned to teaching in 1985. Joined Educational Publishing 1991-2000. Reading and Language consultant for Heinemann, Ginn and Rigby 1997-2000. Freelance writer from 2000.
Eileen Jones is an experienced educational writer and literacy specialist . She has over 20 years’ teaching experience.
Chris Lutrario is a former class teacher and advisory teacher. Since 1991 he has worked as a freelance author with credentials that include working for NLS, QCA and NFER. He has been published by Ginn and Collins.
Mal Peet is a children’s author (Keeper; Walker Books) and a freelance educational writer and consultant.
Worked in primary education for many years from class teacher to head teacher. Worked as a freelance writer for the last four years, specialising in commissioned musical theatre for children and young people, artist in residence in shcools, Lecturer in Children’s theatre at University of Warwick. Has contributed articles, poems, stories and units of work to Scholastic.
Jillian Powell is experienced in teaching and in writing for all age ranges and key stages of the National Curriculum from Early years through Key Stage 4. She has written both fiction and non-fiction for reading schemes as well as the trade (eg Ginn, Heinemann, Longman, Watts). She is the author of Writing Guides: Adventure Stories (9-11).
Charlotte Raby is a Primary Special Needs teacher and a writer specialising in literacy.
Huw Thomas is headteacher of a Sheffield primary school. He is the series editor of Scholastic Literacy Centres and Writing Guides. His previous publications include Writing Guides: Scary Stories 7-9 and Pocket Guides: Understanding Texts.
BA (Hons)Creative Arts. Worked in children’s theatre, stand-up comedy, street theatre, running drama workshops etc. PGCE followed by 8 years teaching in both KS1 and KS2. Subject Leader for PSHCE and Pastoral Care at inner city primary school in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Co-authored ‘Ready to Go: Citizenship KS1’ and ‘Ready to Go: Citizenship KS2’for Scholastic. Author of numerous articles about thinking skills, PSHCE etc for both Junior Education and Junior Focus. Currently studying for MA in creative writing at Newcastle University.
Celia Warren wears two hats: on the one hand she is a published children’s poet, and on the other she is an experienced teacher and writer of teaching material for children. She writes regularly for ‘Child Education’ and she was Series Editor for ‘Writing Workshops: Poetry KS1’.
Christian Birmingham needs little introduction. The Guardian described him as ‘A modern-day Degas’ and he has been nominated for three prestigious UK illustration awards: the Mother Goose; the Kurt Maschler and the Kate Greenaway. He is particularly admired for his interpretation of the classics – most recently Scholastic’s The Classic Tales of Hans Christian Andersen was described by Publishing News as ‘A very special book . . . with the wonderful vision of a renowned illustrator.’ He lives in London.
Jill Murphy was born in London in 1949. From a very early age she was drawing and writing stories. “My earliest memory (my mum tells me I was two), is sitting on the kitchen floor surrounded by sheets of drawings.” By the age of six she was stapling her own little storybooks together.
Jill went to a strict convent, and left at sixteen to attend both Chelsea and Croydon art schools. At only eighteen she finished her first novel, The Worst Witch, which was based heavily on her own experiences at the convent school. Three big London publishers turned it down so Jill put it in a drawer and went off to work in a children’s home and as a nanny.
When Jill was twenty four, The Worst Witch was finally published, and was an instant best-seller. Jill became a freelance author and illustrator and many more wonderful books followed. Mildred Hubble has gone on to several more adventures, most recently The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star, and even her own TV show. The Large Family stories are Jill’s other best known stories, picture books telling of the domestic chaos of a family of elephants.
She now lives in Cornwall with her son Charlie.
Axel Scheffler was born in 1957 in Hamburg, Germany. At school, although always good at art, he never really considered a career in illustration. But long before he began his professional life, he had won his first drawing prize for an international chocolate company – his prize was a cuddly lilac cow.
Axel went on from school to study History of Art at the University of Hamburg – but he didn’t like the course and decided to leave. Knowing that he wanted to live in another country and learn a second language, he moved to England to study illustration at the Bath Academy of Art.
After graduating with a first class degree, Axel moved to London where he began illustrating for a variety of English and German advertising companies, magazines and newspapers. He took his portfolio to a number of publishers and Faber commissioned him to illustrate The Piemakers by Helen Cresswell and The Bottle Rabbit by Bernard McCabe. In 1989, Walker asked Axel to illustrate a text by Jon Blake, You’re a Hero, Daley B.
A writer called Julia Donaldson was also writing songs for Playdays at this time and her song A Squash and a Squeeze was commissioned to be a picture book. Axel Scheffler was recommended as an illustrator for the text and an award-winning team was created.
Their next book, The Gruffalo, was published in March 1999 and has already become a modern classic, selling more than 2 million copies worldwide and translated into over 20 languages. Axel also continues to illustrate for other authors as well, including Ian Whybrow and David Henry Wilson.
Axel has achieved worldwide acclaim for his humorous illustrations, and his books have been translated into over 29 languages. He has enjoyed particular success in his award-winning picture book collaborations with Julia Donaldson, but is also the best-selling illustrator of novelty books such as The Bedtime Bear. In 2006 he was been called upon to design Gordon Brown’s annual Christmas card!
Still living in London, Axel makes frequent visits to continental Europe. His hobbies include walking, cooking and reading and beadwork.
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