The Little Match Girl Strikes Back

Emma Carroll is the multi award-winning author of many bestselling historical stories, including Secrets of a Sun King, Letters from the Lighthouse, The Week at World’s End and A Night at the Frost Fair. With a background as an English teacher, her stories are often magical, and always led by a cast of impressive female characters. She lives in the Somerset hills with her husband and two talkative terriers.

Lauren Child is an award-winning artist and writer. She is the creator of many much-loved characters, including Clarice Bean, Charlie and Lola and Ruby Redfort, along with several stand-alone picture books. Her first two books were published in 1999 – I Want a Pet and Clarice Bean, That’s Me – and she won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in 2000 for I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato. She was awarded a CBE for Services to Literature in 2020; and was the 10th Waterstones’ Children’s Laureate from 2017-2019. Lauren is a champion for the importance of illustration as an art form. She has been a trustee of the House of Illustration for ten years, and at the forefront of innovation, raising the profile of illustration as a sophisticated art form for all ages. She works with mixed media, has pioneered text as an integral part of illustration and collaborates with artists across different fields including music, film, and design. Lauren is a Foundling Museum Fellow and an UNESCO Artist for Peace and her work has always championed the importance of childhood.