Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge was an English writer. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often macabre tales set among the English working class. She won the Whitbread Awards prize for best novel in 1977 and 1996, and was nominated five times for the Booker Prize. She was described in 2007 as a national treasure. In 2008, The Times named Bainbridge on their list of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Joanne Michèle Sylvie Harris is a British author, best known for her 1999 novel Chocolat, which was adapted into a film of the same name.
William Trevor Cox, known by his pen name William Trevor, was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary writers of short stories in the English language.
Giles Foden is an English author, best known for his novel The Last King of Scotland (1998).
Sir Michael Andrew Bridge 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 the trenches of the First World War. Morpurgo was the third Children's Laureate, from 2003 to 2005, and is President of BookTrust, a children's reading charity.
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then a brewery and owner of pub-restaurant chains, it was renamed when Costa Coffee, then a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship. The companion Costa Short Story Award was established in 2012. Costa Coffee was purchased by the Coca-Cola Company in 2018. The awards were abruptly terminated in 2022.
Christian Birmingham is a British illustrator and artist who has worked with children's writers including the Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo, on books including Whitbread Children's Book of the Year The Wreck of the Zanzibar and Smarties Prize winner The Butterfly Lion. He was also shortlisted for the Kurt Maschler Award and Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration.
Why the Whales Came is a British children's story written by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in 1985 in the United Kingdom by William Heinemann, and by Scholastic in the United States. It is set on the island of Bryher, one of the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall, in the year 1914. In 1989, It was adapted into the film When the Whales Came, and in 2001 it was adapted into a stage play.
Private Peaceful is a novel for older children by British author Michael Morpurgo first published in 2003. It is about a fictional young soldier called Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who is looking back on his life so far and his going to war. The story focuses on the harsh realities of English rural life and warfare, and highlights the British Army's practice of executing its own soldiers during the First World War. Morpurgo was inspired to write the novel after learning about the around 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot for crimes like desertion and cowardice. The novel helped further the campaign to grant posthumous pardons to the men, which were agreed and implemented by the UK Government in 2006.
Mick Jackson is a British writer from England, best known for his novel The Underground Man (1997). The book, based on the life of William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and for the 1997 Whitbread Award for best first novel.
The Butterfly Lion is a children's novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by Collins in 1996, and won the 1996 Smarties book prize. The book was adapted into a stage play by Daniel Buckroyd of the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, which toured the UK in 2013.
My Friend Walter is a children's fiction novel by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain by William Heinemann in 1988. The book was shortlisted for the 1989 Smarties Prize.
Waiting for Anya is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in Great Britain in 1990, by William Heinemann. It is set in Lescun, in a mountainous region of southern France on the border with Spain. It was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal; nominated by the American Library Association as Best Book for Young Adults; it was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year; it was a NCSS-CBC Notable Children's Trade Book in the field of Social Studies, and was a finalist for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. In 2020, it was adapted into a film with the same name.
Abdulrazak Gurnah is a Tanzanian-born British novelist and academic. He was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s as a refugee during the Zanzibar Revolution. His novels include Paradise (1994), which was shortlisted for both the Booker and the Whitbread Prize; By the Sea (2001), which was longlisted for the Booker and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and Desertion (2005), shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
Peter Ackroyd is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William Blake, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, Charlie Chaplin and Sir Thomas More, he won the Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards. He is noted for the volume of work he has produced, the range of styles therein, his skill at assuming different voices, and the depth of his research.
Farm Boy is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. The book is the sequel to the popular novel War Horse. The book was first published in the United Kingdom in 1997 by Pavilion Books. It was republished in 1999 by HarperCollins Children's Book. The novel was adapted into a stage play in 2010.
Keiko Kasza is a Japanese American picture book author and illustrator. Her works have been translated into multiple languages and feature animals as main characters.
Cat Skidoo is a 2004 book by Bethany Roberts, with illustrations by R. W. Alley. About two kittens who cause havoc exploring their home surroundings, it received positive reviews.
King of the Cloud Forests is a children's fantasy and adventure novel written by Michael Morpurgo. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Heinemann in 1987. It was released on audiobook in 2007, with Morpurgo providing the narration. It was shortlisted for a Carnegie Medal in 1987, and the novel was also adapted into a thirty-minute animated short in 2002.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a British children's novel written by Michael Morpurgo, and illustrated by Michael Foreman. It was originally published in the United Kingdom by Walker Books, and released in October 2004. The book is largely a translation and condensed version of the late 14th century Arthurian romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
