Morris the Mankiest Monster Award-winning by Giles Andreae (author) and Sarah McIntyre (illustrator)

Giles Andreae is one of the most successful children’s writers today, and is best known for his picture books like Commotion in the Ocean.

Giles started writing stories when he was a primary school. He studied English at Oxford University and his first book for children,Rumble in the Jungle, was an instant hit. Giles has gone on to write many bestselling books for children, including The Lion Who Wanted to Love, winner of the Red House Book Award, and I Love My Mummy, winner of the Booktrust Early Years Award. Giraffes Can’t Dance, published in 1999, has become an international children’s classic, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide.

Giles’s children’s books have, to date, sold more than 3 million copies, making him one of the most successful children’s authors working today.

Giles is the creator of Britain’s favourite stickman, Purple Ronnie, and the hugely successful Edward Monkton poetry range. He lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, Victoria, and their four children. His own personal favourite children’s book is Yertle the Turtle by Doctor Seuss.

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