Authors beginning with: G
Adam and Charlotte Guillain
Adam Guillain is a performance storyteller and was the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre Writer in Residence. Charlotte Guillain taught English to air traffic controllers and nurses before deciding a career in publishing would endanger fewer lives. Following a decade working as a commissioning editor, Charlotte is now a prolific author of children’s fiction, non-fiction and picture books.
Alan Gibbons
Alan Gibbons has been writing children's books for 17 years. He is the winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2000 'The book I couldn't put down' for his best-selling book Shadow of the Minotaur. He has also been shortlisted twice for the Carnegie Medal and twice for the Book Trust Teenage Prize. He has won the Catalyst Award, the Leicester Book of the Year, the Angus Book of the Year, the Stockport Book Award and the Salford Librarians' Special Award. His books have been published in languages including Japanese, German, Italian, French, Thai, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Swedish.
Alan was a teacher for 16 years. He is now is a full-time writer and independent educational consultant and a campaigner for library services. He lives in Liverpool.
Alan Garner
Alan Garner, the son of Colin and Marjorie Garner, was born ("with the cord wrapped twice round my throat") in his grandmother's front room in Congleton, Cheshire on 17th October 1934, and grew up in Alderley Edge, where his father's family have lived for more than three hundred years, being craftsmen in the area. He completed two years' national service in the Royal Artillery as a Second Lieutenant. He began writing his first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, at the age of twenty-two.
Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
Andy Griffiths is one of Australia's most popular children's authors. From his bestselling, award-winning Treehouse series - now published in more than 30 countries - to the JUST! books (both illustrated by long-time friend and collaborator Terry Denton) and The Day My Bum Went Psycho, Andy's books have captivated and kept Australian kids laughing for more than 20 years. Andy's books have been New York Times bestsellers, adapted for stage and television, and won over 70 Australian children's choice awards. Andy, a passionate advocate for literacy, is an ambassador for The Indigenous Literacy Foundation and The Pyjama Foundation.
Terry Denton is an Australian illustrator and author. He is married and has three children. He is the second youngest of five boys, and was born and grew up in Melbourne, Victoria. He now lives in Mornington, Victoria.
Bob Graham
Robert Donald Graham, better known as Bob Graham, is an Australian author and illustrator of picture books, primarily for very young children.
Graham won the 2002 Kate Greenaway Medal from the British librarians, recognising the year's best-illustrated children's book published in the UK, for the picture book Jethro Byrd, Fairy Child, which he both wrote and illustrated. (He donated the £5000 cash prize to refugees.) He also won a 2000 Smarties Prize, ages category 0–5 years, for Max. For his contribution as a children's illustrator, Graham was Australia nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2012.
Candy Gourlay
Growing up in the Philippines at a time when most books were imported from the West, Candy Gourlay wondered why all the books she ever loved only featured pink-skinned children who lived in snow-covered worlds that didn’t resemble her steamy, tropical home in Manila. As a result, she took many detours on her way to becoming an author. She worked as a journalist, a cartoonist, a fake American voiceover talent and a web designer – before finally becoming an author of children’s books.
Candy's first novel for primary school children, Tall Story, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Blue Peter Book Award and the Branford Boase Prize. Her second book, Shine, was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Book Prize, and both novels won the Crystal Kite Prize. Other books by Candy include Bone Talk, a historical novel set in the Philippines, and picture books Is It a Mermaid and Mike Falls Up.
Candy is an ardent member of the international "kid-lit" organisation, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She is currently serving on the Children’s Writers’ and Illustrators’ Group of the Society of Authors. She lives in London with her family, where she wages war on the snails in her garden.
Clive Gifford
Clive Gifford is an award-winning author of more than 200 books for children and young adults. His titles published by Ivy Kids include The Human Body in 30 Seconds, Brain Twisters, and Eye Benders, winner of the 2014 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize.
Debi Gliori
Debi Gliori has written and illustrated over 70 picture books, including the popular Mr Bear series. More recently she has also turned to older fiction, including the Pure Dead and Witch Baby series. She has also been shortlisted for major prizes, including the Kate Greenaway Award twice, the Scottish Arts Council Award and the Royal Mail Award.
Elspeth Graham
Elspeth was born during a snowstorm in Northumberland, England. After university, she became passionately interested in reading to her children and understanding how children learn to read. Elspeth began to write books for children -some with her husband, and fellow author, Mal Peet.
Emily Gravett
Emily Gravett is twice winner of the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal and the Nestlé Children's Book Prize Bronze Award for Wolves and Little Mouse's Big Book Of Fears. An author-illustrator of unique talent and skill, she has a host of other award-winning and critically acclaimed books to her name, including Orange Pear Apple Bear, Monkey and Me, The Odd Egg and Blue Chameleon. Emily lives in Brighton with her family.
Fabio Geda
Born in Turin in 1972, Fabio Geda is an Italian novelist who works with children in difficulties. He writes for several Italian magazines and newspapers, and teaches creative writing in the most famous Italian school of storytelling (Scuola Holden, in Turin).
Helen Grant
Helen Grant was born in London. She read Classics at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, and then worked in marketing for ten years in order to fund her love of travelling. In 2001 she and her family moved to Bad Münstereifel in Germany, and it was exploring the legends of this beautiful town that inspired her to write her first novel, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden. She wrote the self-help book Escape Domestic Violence which was published in 2007 by Hodder Headline in association with British daytime TV programme This Morning. She now lives in Brussels with her husband, her two children and a small German cat.
Jack Gantos
While in college, Jack and an illustrator friend, Nicole Ruben, began working on picture books. After a series of well-deserved rejections they published their first book, Rotten Ralph, in 1976. Jack continued to write children’s books and began to teach courses in children’s book writing and children’s literature.
Jack is the author of the Rotten Ralph books, which have been televised by the BBC. His novels Joey Pigza Swallowed The Key and Joey Pigza Loses Control are published by Corgi.
Jamila Gavin
Jamila Gavin was born in Mussoorie, India, to an Indian father and an English mother. The family settled in England where Jamila completed her schooling, studied music, worked for the BBC and became a mother of two. She began writing to reflect the multicultural world in which she and her children lived.
Her first book, The Magic Orange Tree was published in 1979. Other publications include: Grandpa Chatterji (shortlisted for the Smarties Award and dramatised for Channel 4 schools TV); and The Wheel of Surya (1992 Guardian Children’s Fiction Award runner-up). Her novel for young adults, Coram Boy, was published to critical acclaim in 2000 and won the Children’s Whitbread Award. She has also published a collection of brand new fairy tales, Blackberry Blue. Jamila lives in Gloucestershire.
Jessica Greenwell
Jessica Greenwell grew up in Wolverhampton then studied English at Leeds University. She joined Usborne in 2008 and has since written lots of wipe-clean, sticker, colouring and noisy books. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two young sons, and when she’s not playing pirates or dinosaurs, she’s writing books about them instead.
John Grisham
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers. Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade. He also served in the House of Representatives in Mississippi from January 1984 to September 1990. Beginning writing in 1984, he had his first novel A Time To Kill published in June 1989.
Grisham's first best seller was The Firm. Released in 1991, it sold more than seven million copies. The book was later adapted into a feature film in 1993, and a TV series in 2012. Eight of his other novels have also been adapted into films. His books have been translated into 29 languages and published worldwide.
John Green
John Green is the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars, whose many accolades include the Printz Medal, a Printz Honor and the Edgar Award. He has twice been a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize. With his brother, Hank, John is one half of the Vlogbrothers, one of the most popular online video projects in the world.
Julia Golding
Julia Golding was born in 1969 and grew up in Essex, on the edge of Epping Forest. As a child she used to imagine stories about the mysterious trees she could see from her bedroom window.
After reading English at Cambridge, she joined the Foreign Office and worked in Poland as a diplomat, before returning to England to read for a doctorate in English Literature at Oxford. She went on to join Oxfam as a policy advisor, and then become a campaigner at the UN, where she worked to lessen the impact of conflict on civilians living in war zones. She now works full-time as a writer, and lives in Oxford with her husband and three children.
Keith Gray
Keith Gray was born in Grimsby. As a child, Keith found reading a chore, but later found a talent in reading and writing. At 24, he had his first book published, Creepers, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Award. Since then, he has written many books. Keith is perhaps best-known for Ostrich Boys,which won great acclaim and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, Guardian Fiction Prize and the BookTrust Teen Prize. It was also adapted into a stage play. Keith has lectured in creative writing and now livesin Vienna with his partner and daughter. He spends much of his time visiting schools to pass on his love of books and writing, as well as reviewing teenage fiction.
Kereen Getten
Kereen Getten grew up in Jamaica where she would climb fruit trees in the family garden and eat as much mango, guinep and pear as she could without being caught. She now lives in Birmingham with her family and writes stories about her childhood experiences. When Life Gives You Mangoes is her debut novel.
Kes Gray
Kes Gray is the author of loads of belove children's books in the UK. He was noted by the Independent as one of the top ten children's authors in the UK in 2003. He is the author of the bestselling Daisy books, including the award-winning Eat Your Peas, and Billy Bucket was winner of the Red House Children's Book Award for Younger Readers.
Kobus Geldenhuys
Kobus Geldenhuys is an award-winning translator of children's and young adult literature. He has translated many Harry Potter titles into Afrikaans, as well the third book in Cressida Cowell's popular series How To Train Your Dragon.
Kristín Ragna Gunnarsdóttir
Kristín is a graphic designer, illustrator and writer. She studied at the Icelandic College of Art and Crafts and then Creative Writing at the University of Iceland. She's illustrated many children's books, and received the Icelandic Illustrator's Award twice, and been nominated for the Icelandic Literature Prize. She's been recognised by IBBY for her contribution to children's culture. Wolf, Edda and the Stolen Relic was nominated for the Icelandic Women's Literature Prize and the Nordic Council's Children and Young People's Literature Prize. Her illustrations have been exhibited in Iceland, the US, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. She is the author or co-author of 12 books for children.
Lindsey Gardiner
Lindsey lives in Dundee, Scotland, where she shares a messy studio with her high maintenance but adorable dogs, Lola and Yuki. They give her lots of love and LOTS of ideas, with much of the same issues to deal with as children. Picky eating, sibling rivalry, toilet training, attention seeking, socialization skills (or lack thereof), fear of baths, not to mention invading her bed in the middle of the night! As anyone with children (or dogs!) knows, the list is endless. At least Lindsey hopes it is, or else where will her next story come from?
Lorraine Gregory
Lorraine Gregory was raised on a council estate in east London by an Austrian mother and an Indian father. Her love of reading and wild imagination led to years of making up stories but none of them made it to the page until she began writing them down for her son.
Her debut children's novel, Mold and the Poison Plot, was released in 2017 and won the SCBWI Crystal Kite award for UK and Ireland in 2018. Her second book, The Maker of Monsters, will be published in May 2019. Both fantasy adventures have strong themes of diversity, inclusivity and friendship tucked within the pages. Lorraine is also part of the duo who set up and run the popular bi-monthly #ukmgchat on Twitter, which allows authors, agents, publishers and general book lovers the opportunity to discuss the joy of children's books in detail. She lives in Loughton, Essex
Matt Goodfellow
Matt Goodfellow is a poet and primary school teacher from Manchester. He has had poems published in magazines and anthologies worldwide and released his acclaimed debut collection, Carry Me Away.
Michael Grant
Michael Grant has spent much of his life on the move. Raised in a military family, he attended ten schools in five states of the USA, as well as three schools in France. Even as an adult he kept moving, and in fact he became a writer in part because it was one of the few jobs that wouldn’t tie him down. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife, Katherine Applegate, their two children, and far too many pets.
Mini Grey
Mini Grey was given her name after being born in a mini in a car park in South Wales. After taking a foundation Course in Fine Art, she studied for an English degree at UCL, afterwards working as a theatre designer, then a primary teacher, before studying for an MA in sequential design at Brighton University.
Mini's first picture book for children, Egg Drop, a surreal story of an egg that dreams of being able to fly, was published in 2002. It established her as both a visually exciting illustrator of detailed, colourful artwork and a highly accomplished storyteller, who often narrates from an unusual point of view, such as that of the pea in The Pea and the Princess (2003) (shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway illustration award); the biscuit in Biscuit Bear (2004) - winner of the Nestlé Smarties Gold Prize (under 5s category) - and the spoon in The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon (2006).
Mona Golabek
Mona Golabek is a Grammy-nominated recording artist, internationally-celebrated concert pianist, and star of the one-woman show The Pianist of Willesden Lane.
Morris Gleitzman
Morris Gleitzman was born in Lincolnshire and moved to Australia in his teens. He worked as a paperboy, a shelf-stacker, a frozen chicken de-froster, an assistant to a fashion designer and more, before taking a degree in Professional Writing at Canberra College and becoming a writer.
He has written for TV, stage, newspapers and magazines but is best known for his hugely successful children's books including Two Weeks with the Queen, Bumface, and his series about Felix and Zelda, Once, Now, Then and After. He has won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award and been shortlisted for the prestigious Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.
Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is the author of the bestselling National Book Awards 2013 Book of the Year The Ocean at the End of the Lane and the Carnegie Medal winning The Graveyard Book, as well as Coraline, Neverwhere, the essay collection The View from the Cheap Seats and The Sandman series of graphic novels, among many other works. His fiction has received many awards including the Carnegie and Newbery medals, and the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy and Eisner awards. He has four children and one grandson. Originally from England, Neil now divides his time between the UK, where he is turning Good Omens, the novel he wrote with Terry Pratchett, into television, and the US, where he is Professor in the Arts at Bard College.
Paul Gallico
Paul Gallico was an American novelist, short story and sports writer. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictures. He is perhaps best remembered for The Snow Goose, his only real critical success, and for the novel The Poseidon Adventure, primarily through the 1972 film adaptation.
Pippa Goodhart
Pippa Goodhart has had over 90 books published and is best known for her picture book You Choose and the Winnie the Witch storybooks, which she writes under the name of Laura Owen.
Pippa has been longlisted for the Kate Greenaway Award, won the 2011 Mumsnet Children’s Book of the Year for 3-4 Year Olds, and was shortlisted for the Young Telegraph Book of the Year award.
Ricard Ruiz Garzón
Ricard Ruiz Garzón is an award-winning writer, journalist and teacher at the Writing School of Ateneu Barcelonès and at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. He has won many Spanish prizes for his books, including the 25th Edition Edebé Award for Children's Literature for The Immortal, together with the Ramon Muntaner 2016 award for Herba Negra and the Miradas 2006 for Las Voces Del Laberrinto. The Immortal was translated into five languages within three months of its initial publication.
Sally Gardner
Sally Gardner grew up amongst the drama of London’s law courts, as both her parents were lawyers. Having been branded ‘unteachable’ by some and sent to various schools, Sally was eventually diagnosed at the age of twelve as being severely dyslexic. Sally is now an avid spokesperson for dyslexia; she sees it a gift, not a disability, and is passionately trying to change how dyslexics are perceived by society.
Sally published her first book in 1993, thus beginning her illustrious career as a writer-illustrator to great international acclaim. The Countess's Calamity won the Smarties Prize in 2003. Her first full-length novel, and a turning point in Sally’s career, was I, Coriander which won the Nestle Children’s Book Prize Gold Award in 2005. Her novel The Red Necklace was shortlisted for the Guardian Book Prize in 2007, followed by the sequel, The Silver Blade. Her book, The Double Shadow, was hailed as ‘an astonishing departure for a writer who has found a new and very distinctive voice’. Sally lives in London.
Sam Gayton
Sam Gayton lives in Margate. In 2009 he completed the Writing for Young People MA at Bath Spa University and not long after published his first book, The Snow Merchant. He loves American novels, Italian food and the English countryside. When he's not writing, he likes playing old board games, strumming his guitar and joining as many rock bands as possible (currently at seven).
Sara Grant
Sara Grant loves books – reading, writing, editing, talking and teaching books. Her new series Chasing Danger is an action-adventure series for tweens. Dark Parties, her first young adult novel, won the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite Award for Europe. As a freelance editor of series fiction, she has worked on 12 different series and edited nearly 100 books.
Sara was born and raised in a small town in the Midwestern United States. She graduated from Indiana University with degrees in journalism and psychology, and later she earned a master’s degree in creative and life writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London, graduating with distinction. She lives in London. Find out more about her at www.sara-grant.com or follow her on Twitter.
Sarah Garland
Sarah Garland is a much-loved author/illustrator who has published more than 40 books. The daughter of a publisher and illustrator, she trained as a typographer at the London College of Printing. She has illustrated Margaret Mahy’s Dashing Dog and has written and illustrated Billy and Belle, Eddie’s Garden, Eddie’s Kitchen and the board books, Splash! and Zoom! Sarah lives in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
Sarah Garson
Sarah Garson studied a BA in Illustration at Middlesex University in London and has a Masters degree in Children's Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art. In 2006, Sarah was shortlisted for Book Trust’s Best Emerging Illustrator prize for Andersen title, The Grump, which was also highly commended by the prestigious Macmillan Picture Book Prize. Her subsequent books have gone on to be nominated by the Cambridgeshire Picture Book Award (Daydream Dan) and the Coventry Book Award (One, Two, Cockatoo!). She now lives and works in Melbourne, and divides her time between Australia and the UK.
Scott Garrett
Scott Garrett is a freelance illustrator living in the UK. Scott has worked for clients nationally and internationally, including Vodafone, Nestle, VW, GQ, the Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Business Week, Klutz Books, Bloomsbury, Faber & Faber and Random House. Scott lives by the sea on the South East coast with his family.
Along with illustration Scott has a developing interest in pottery and has started to make pots himself. He is particularly interested in old English Slipware and the folk pottery from the American South. You can follow his beginnings in pottery on Scott’s blog, along with other random products of his creativity.
Spike Gerrell
Spike Gerrell is a prolific cartoonist known for his 'spiky-nosed' illustrations. His work has been published in the New Scientist, Independent, Times Educational Supplement and Guardian. Spike lives in north London.