The Very Merry Murder Club

Patrice Lawrence was born in Brighton and brought up in an Italian and Trinidadian household. Her first book for young adults, Orangeboy, was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and won the Bookseller YA Prize and Waterstone’s Prize for Older Children's Fiction. Indigo Donut, her second book for teenagers, won the Crimefest YA Prize. Both books have been nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Patrice worked for more than 20 years for charities supporting equality and social justice. These themes (along with a serious amount of music) inform her stories. Patrice still lives in Brighton.

She is our current Writer in Residence.

Watch our interview with Patrice Lawrence

Serena is the author of the award-winning series, Anisha, Accidental Detective which is now being developed for television. Serena loves books that make you laugh out loud or that have a twisty mystery to solve, even better if they have both! She believes all children should be able to see themselves in books and in the power of stories to make us believe we can achieve anything we set our minds to. Serena lives in the West Midlands with her family and two mischievous cats.

Sharna Jackson is the Artistic Director of Site Gallery, Sheffield and a board member of Sheffield Doc/Fest, Upswing Aerial Arts and New Writing North. She has previously worked as a creative producer with the Tate, BAFTA, The Design Museum, The Royal Collection Trust, Museum of Childhood, V&A, Science Museum, Penguin amongst others. An advocate for diverse representation across children’s media, she is a member of BAFTA’s Children’s and Learning and New Talent committees and the Children’s Media Conference advisory board. High Rise Mystery (Knights Of), is her debut novel, the first in a mould-breaking crime series.