| Founded | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Patience Thomson and Lucy Juckes |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Headquarters location | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Distribution | Bounce Sales and Marketing |
| Publication types | Books |
| Nonfiction topics | Children's & teens nonfiction |
| Fiction genres | Children's & teens fiction |
| Official website | www |
Barrington Stoke [1] is a children's book publisher based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company was founded in 1998 and publishes fiction and non-fiction adapted to different reading ages for reluctant, under-confident and dyslexic children and teens. The books are printed on cream paper to reduce glare and language-edited to increase readability. The text is a specially-adapted dyslexia-friendly font, with a considered layout and numerous chapter breaks. [2]
Barrington Stoke was awarded Publisher of the Year in 2007 by the Independent Publisher’s Guild. [3] In 2020, Barrington Stoke had its first CILIP Carnegie Medal winner with Lark by Anthony McGowan. [4]
Barrington Stoke was founded by Patience Thomson and Lucy Juckes in 1998. [2] Thomson was a principal of a specialist school for dyslexic students and Juckes had held a marketing role with Bloomsbury Publishing. They identified children and young people excluded from books due to dyslexia or other reading issues. The pair then formed Barrington Stoke in Juckes’ living room, with an aim to produce books with a different design and editorial approach, along with a shorter format to support less able readers. [5]
Barrington Stoke publishes well-known children's authors such as Kevin Brooks, Terry Deary, Elizabeth Kay, Anthony McGowan, Robert Swindells, Lisa Thompson, Onjali Q Raúf and Diana Wynne Jones. The company also publishes previous Children’s Laureates such as Anne Fine, Michael Morpurgo, Malorie Blackman, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson and Laureate na nÓg Eoin Colfer. Some authors better known for writing for adults also write for Barrington Stoke, including Eric Brown, Allan Guthrie, James Lovegrove and Gwyneth Jones writing as Ann Halam.
Barrington Stoke launched its Picture Squirrel imprint in 2014 after a dyslexic father lamented the fact that he could not read to his daughter. [6] Michael Morpurgo was the first children's author to join Barrington Stoke's picture book list.
In 2015 the company ventured into digital and launched Tints, a dyslexia-friendly reading app that allowed its specially-designed books to be accessed via tablets.
The Carnegie Medal for Writing, established in 1936, is a British literary award that annually recognises one outstanding new English-language book for children or young adults. It is conferred upon the author by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), who calls it "the UK's oldest and most prestigious book award for children's writing". CILIP is currently partnered with the audio technology company Yoto in connection with the award.
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It was a lifetime award in that previous winners were not eligible. At least from 2000 the prize was £1,500. The prize was apparently discontinued after 2016, though no formal announcement appears to have been made.
The Carnegie Medal for Illustration is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) which inherited it from the Library Association. CILIP is currently partnered with the audio technology company Yoto in connection with the award.
Children's Laureate, now known as the Waterstones Children's Laureate, is a prestigious position awarded in the United Kingdom once every two years to a "writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field." The role promotes the importance of children’s literature, reading, creativity and storytelling while promoting the right of every child to enjoy a lifetime of books and stories. Each Laureate uses their tenure to focus on an aspect of children’s books – these have included poetry, storytelling, readers with disabilities and illustration.
Melvin Burgess is a British writer of children's fiction. He became famous in 1996 with the publication of Junk, about heroin-addicted teenagers on the streets of Bristol. In Britain, Junk became one of the best-known young adult books of the decade. Burgess won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British author. For the 10th anniversary in 2007 it was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite.
Sir Michael Reggie Morpurgo is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as War Horse (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelling", for recurring themes such as the triumph of an outsider or survival, for characters' relationships with nature, and for vivid settings such as the Cornish coast or World War I. Morpurgo became the third Children's Laureate, from 2003 to 2005, and he is also the current President of BookTrust, the UK's largest children's reading charity.
Jacqueline Anne Ffrench, known professionally as Jackie French, is an Australian author who has written across a number of genres for both adults and children. Her most notable works include Rain Stones, Diary of a Wombat, and The Girl from Snowy River. Several of her books have been recommended for teaching the Australian Curriculum. French lives in Braidwood, New South Wales, with her second husband Bryan Sullivan.
Sally Gardner is a British children writer and illustrator. She won both the Costa Children's Book Award and the Carnegie Medal for Maggot Moon. Under her pseudonym Wray Delaney she has also written adult novels.
Jennifer Donnelly is an American writer best known for the young adult historical novel A Northern Light.
Meg Rosoff is an American writer based in London, United Kingdom. She is best known for the novel How I Live Now, which won the Guardian Prize, Printz Award, and Branford Boase Award and made the Whitbread Awards shortlist. Her second novel, Just in Case, won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians recognising the year's best children's book published in the UK.
Management of dyslexia depends on a multiple of variables; there is no one specific strategy or set of strategies that will work for all who have dyslexia.
David Ian Roberts is a British children's illustrator. He has illustrated a large number of books in both black and white and colour. His black and white work mainly features in books for older readers and he has worked with such well-known authors as Philip Ardagh, G.P. Taylor, Chris Priestley, Mick Jackson, Susan Price, Jon Blake and Tom Baker. Mouse Noses on Toast by Daren King won the Nestle Smarties Book Prize in 2006, after which King and Roberts collaborated on other titles including Peter the Penguin Pioneer, Sensible Hare and the Case of Carrots and The Frightfully Friendly Ghosties series.
Emily Gravett is an English author and illustrator of children's picture books. For her debut book Wolves published in 2005 and Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears published three years later, she won the annual Kate Greenaway Medal recognising the year's best-illustrated British children's book.
Whispers in the Graveyard is a children's novel by Theresa Breslin, published by Methuen in 1994. Breslin won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. In a retrospective award citation the librarians call it "a gripping, powerful and haunting story".
BookTrust is a UK children's reading charity dedicated to getting children reading.
Anthony John McGowan is an English author of books for children, teenagers and adults. He is the winner of the 2020 CILIP Carnegie Medal for Lark.
Sarah Crossan is an Irish author. She is best known for her books for young adults, including Apple and Rain and One, for which she has won several rewards.
Onjali Qatara Raúf is a British author and the founder of the two NGOs: Making Herstory, a woman's rights organisation tackling the abuse and trafficking of women and girls in the UK; and O's Refugee Aid Team, which raises awareness and funds to support refugee frontline aid organisations.
Lisa Thompson is an English children's book author.
Joseph Coelho FRSL is a British poet and children's book author who was elected Children's Laureate in 2022. In 2023, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
