Shana (alias Shanarama) enjoys writing and illustrating a range of work, from Picture Books and Children’s fiction to Graphic Novels.

When she’s not cooking up her next adventure on paper, she’s living one with her lively family who, she has to say, all provide rather a lot of inspiration!

She was featured in the PaperBound Magazine (Winter 2020) after winning a competition.

Emma grew up underwater, catching sea creatures on Gibraltar’s shores or suspended in a good story.

As a child psychologist she became passionate about difference and disability, and wanted to immerse children in the beauty of an underwater world most can never see; a world humans are destroying.

Claire is a children’s author with over 25 years’ experience. She was a UV2010 winner for Cordelia Codd: Not Just the Blues, which became the first in a trilogy of middle-grade novels. Since then, she has written a wide range of funny stories and fairy tale retellings for major UK publishers. Claire is a SCBWI Southeast network co-ordinator and a tutor at Oxford Centre for Fantasy.

She recently established The Really Chilled Writing Retreat to give authors and illustrators precious time and space.

Since completing his Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford, Matthew has been working to create stories with LGBTQ+ characters and third culture kids for middle grade and young adult readers. He also enjoys finding unique approaches to voice and humour in his writing, which earned him recognition in his UV entry, The Spy Who Grounded Me.

Matthew lives with his husband and their two children in the Netherlands, where he works as a teacher-librarian at the Amsterdam International Community School. His family also runs a restaurant, so you usually know where you can find him writing in the evenings and weekends.

Undiscovered Voices was a wonderful experience for Olivia, as it lead to her developing her black and white illustration style.

She also enjoys using watercolours and sketching outdoors. Now she is delighted to be represented by the wonderful Plum Pudding Illustration Agency.

Sarah has studied Graphic Design and, more recently, Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art.

She would love to write and illustrate books for children.

She also loves cats, drinking tea and creating imaginary creatures.

Deborah studied general illustration at the North East Wales Institute but a love of stories led her to the wonderful world of children’s illustration.

She is happiest with her tin of watercolours, paintbrush in hand and freshly stretched paper, drawing as many different animals as she can.

Her illustration for the Undiscovered Voices 2016 Anthology was entitled “The Race To Get Dry” illustrating Alice of Wonderland Road – Remarkable Tales of a Runaway.

Serena Patel is the author of the Anisha, Accidental Author series which won the Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Award for Fiction and the CrimeFest award for Children’s Crime Fiction. There are now six books in the series. Serena was also co-editor and contributor for The Very Merry Murder Club which was a Waterstones Book of The Month and also hit the Children’s and YA Bestseller chart.

Serena believes all children deserve to feel seen in the stories they read and that books are an important tool for empathy.

When she’s not writing Serena enjoys watching movies, reading and eating cake. Chocolate cake preferred.

Nicola was approached by two agencies as a result of Undiscovered Voices, although is currently unrepresented. She illustrated freelance for the greetings and homeware markets, working for clients such as Hallmark, American Greetings and Whistlefish Galleries, before working full time for a Greetings card company designing cards for major supermarkets and card retailers.

She is still a freelance illustrator in her spare time working with a company called Artistic Britain who produce canvas prints of her artwork and market them to various retailers such as Homesense, The Range, and Dunelm Mill.

She also likes to paint portraits but mainly just for the fun of it!

Her illustration for the Undiscovered Voices 2012 Anthology was entitled “Viking makes a discovery”.

Bryony Pearce lives in the Forest of Dean. When not writing, she can be found reading and mentoring for Cornerstones, The Writing Coach and The Book Edit. She also teaches a creative writing course at City university (Writing for Children) and in her ‘spare’ time, is usually ferrying teenagers around, reading, or binge-watching TV shows.

Nicola lives in north London with her four children, husband and two Siamese cats.

She loves adventures with her children, out in green spaces, and loves bedtime too, because of the amazing worlds you find in children’s books.

Nicola’s first book, and her shortlisted UV entry, is Where the World Turns Wild and was published by Little Tiger Press in 2020. It was chosen as a BookTrust secondary school library pack title for 2020/21.

Esther is an illustrator and art teacher originally from Spain.

She has published three children books and her drawings and animations were used to celebrate El Museo del Prado´s 200 anniversary.

She lives on the South coast of Spain and teaches art at the high school level, she loves writing, playing the piano, and all artistic things.

You can find her now working on a book full of artistic experiments and defending environmental causes.

Janet’s favourite aspects of teaching were introducing children to the wonders of art and storybooks; now she’s retired, she is busy putting her own ideas on paper.

Turtles, dolphins, spooky creatures and naughty children all bounce around, having a party in her imagination!

Rachel graduated from the Cambridge MA in Children’s Book Illustration in 2017.

She exhibits her artwork in Buckinghamshire and Oxford and makes designs for an online craft outlet.

Her UV winning illustration in 2012 was entitled ‘By the Light of the Moon,’ and depicted a singing baboon.

Matt Ralphs worked as an editor for many years, and now writes children’s non-fiction and middle grade fiction, often with a focus on history, myths and folklore.

He lives on the Grand Union Canal on a boat called Nostromo.

Paula writes thrillers for Young Adults and enjoys doing author visits to schools around the country.

She also loves being a writer in residence for ‘First Story’.

She’s written four novels and her short stories have been published in anthologies for YA and adults.

She lives in Nottingham with her family.

I have always loved playing with paper, back when I studied textiles I spent all my time dyeing, stitching and cutting up paper into intricate shapes. I drew on it and constructed three dimensional shapes using dressmaking techniques and enjoying the textures and happy accidents. Now I do the same, painting, cutting, dyeing, printing and drawing to create textures to illustrate picture books.

Every image starts with drawing so I can work out the shape and personality of the animal or person I am illustrating. I really enjoy observational drawing but it’s playing with paint, scissors and glue that I really enjoy and that is when my work starts to come alive. I try to embrace mistakes as a sign of creation by human hands and incorporate them into my work.

Author of three picture books, and shortlisted for SCBWI’s Undiscovered Voices 2014, Rachel Rivett has an MA in Writing for Children from Winchester University.

She is currently writing a new novel– in snatched and borrowed moments – alongside a series of practical books that nurture Creativity.

Bronwen Roscoe trained as a journalist, started her career as an editor and works for the BBC.

She lives in Surrey with her husband and three sons and is studying for a master’s at UCL.

When she is not working, writing or studying, she spends time with her children, who mostly ignore her.

Portia was born in Manchester, studied Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge and still lives there.

She loves drawing, and loves depicting character and liveliness; faces are consistently the focus of her work. She feels equally interested in both serious and humorous subjects.

Her illustration in the UV2016 anthology was called ‘Bring Your Pet To School Day’ illustrating (Cinder) Ella Grubb and the School for Princesses.

Born and raised in Yorkshire, now living in the south, Gerry’s had a lot of different jobs – teacher, waitress, fitness instructor, lecturer, croupier, charity manager – to name a few.

She has an MA in Creative Writing and writes YA for the teenage self who still lives in her head.

An avid writer from an early age, Abbie won several competitions for young writers.

After studying English Literature with Creative Writing at the UEA, Abbie began a career in publishing.

She currently edits literacy resources for primary schools.

Abbie Rushton was featured in the 2010 Anthology as Abbie Todd.

Lauren lived in the fantastic city of London before moving to Boulder, Colorado, where she lives happily with her husband.

After days spent writing, she goes biking, hiking, or hangs out with her family or friends, unless a sunny spot with a book calls her first.

Since Undiscovered Voices, Susan has taken part in The Hook at the annual SCBWI Conference in Winchester.

She continues to write gritty, emotional books for people of all ages.

She is a media lecturer in a sixth form college near Southend, which is a constant source of inspiration for her writing.

As well as a writer of children’s fiction and non-fiction, Kate Scott is a children’s TV scriptwriter, script-editor, storyline consultant, poet, and playwright. She is currently the Head Writer for a new pre-school animation series for a major broadcaster, has just completed a new middle-grade manuscript and is working on her third poetry collection. She has written for shows on CBeebies, C5, CITV, Disney, Apple and Netflix. She was the script-editor for the animation-film, A Christmas Letter, narrated by Kate Winslet (Sky). Her plays have been performed at fringe festivals and her poetry broadcasted on BBC Radio 4.

Kate co-founded the Book Pen Pals programme with Sara O’Connor in May 2018.

Paula is a children’s writer and former journalist from Hampshire. She holds an MA with distinction in Writing for Children and her work features in publications such as The Caterpillar, The Toy, Tyger Tyger and The Dirigible Balloon. Since winning UV2022 Paula is delighted to have signed with her agent.

Born in Glasgow, Deborah has lived in lands near and far, including the Philippines, India and Wales, and the Isle of Bute where she became a full-time artist in 2015.

She is inspired by a love of stories and animals of all furs and feathers.

Thanks to Undiscovered Voices, Tioka received incredibly helpful feedback from agents and editors on her YA crime story The Stone Cutter which was selected for the 2014 anthology.

She’s currently working on several stories for teens that are full of tough girls, hot boys, and large quantities of danger.

When Tioka isn’t in a Paris cafe downing hot chocolate and working out how to get troubled characters into more trouble, she can be found in her neighbourhood yoga studio, bumbling through downward facing dog.

Tioka has worked as a journalist for television networks in New York, a teacher and ministry of education consultant in various countries, and as an acquisition reader for French publishers.

Jacob seems destined to travel through life with the purpose of covering any available paper with drawings.

To fund this expedition he has worked in stage design, storyboarding, sandwich-making, web design and teaching.

His last decade has been spent in librarianship, where he spends his days surrounded by children’s books.

Mariam is a scriptwriter and children’s author. She is currently working on a new novel for 6-8 year olds called GROSS Academy. After completing an M.A. in Creative Writing, she also has fun running creative writing workshops in schools.

Sally has a love of experimenting in the print room and combining with digital techniques to create her artwork.

She loves creating shapes and textures and lets that lead her work.

She’s a recent MA Children’s Book Illustration graduate from CSA.

Annie Walmsley has taught a variety of subjects including English, drama and EFL.

She has always been an avid reader and writer and now spends as much time as she can writing.

She resides in deepest, darkest Cornwall and has recently been published in the Guardian.

With a background in languages and book history, Julia worked as a literary translator before deciding to go back to art college and pursue her dream to write and illustrate children’s books.

She is now involved in various art and illustration projects.

Bing Wang was born in Shanghai and raised in NYC by a family of artists.

She loves art, books and languages and has over 20 years’ experience as an illustrator and comic strip artist.

She currently lives in Holland with her husband and daughter who also can’t stop drawing.

Her illustration in the UV2016 anthology was called – ‘Out Of The Pan’ illustrating Hansel and Gretel and the Great Witch Rescue.

Laura is a MG writer from Norfolk and grew up in a small village just outside Norwich. Nothing ever happened there, so a good imagination was essential for passing the time! She’s had a variety of jobs including one in a local school, where she fought a long battle against the terror that was the lost property cupboard.

Laura was selected for Undiscovered Voices in 2020 with a book called The Great Prime Minister Swap. Now that she realises that everything she writes comes true, she will be embarking on a new project called Laura Wins the Lottery. Since UV, she has been shortlisted for the Penguin Books Write Now 2021, the Write Mentor Children’s Novel Award 2022 and All Stories. She has written for Ladybird Books and is currently working on a project for Oxford University Press.

Laura loves characters that perhaps haven’t had things easy but approach life with optimism and humour. In her own writing she takes a lot of inspiration from the area where she lives and families that she’s known whilst working in schools. There are so many stories that never get told and she feels strongly that all children’s lives should be represented in books. Why shouldn’t children from council estates get to go on brilliant adventures and believe that they have the power to change the world?

Katie is a Liverpool-based illustrator who works in both traditional and digital media. She graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in 2001 with a B.A. Hons in Graphic Arts.

As a direct result of being a finalist in Undiscovered Voices 2016, she is now represented by Angharad Kowal of Writers House UK and is currently developing several picture book concepts. 

Her illustration in the UV2016 anthology was called ‘Jack Investigates’ illustrating Jack and the Tower Block. Her work can be viewed here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/katieweymouth/

Imogen knows first-hand what an amazing platform UV is for new writers—having been one of the finalists for the UV2014 anthology, she gained an agent and a two-book deal with Usborne, which saw her UV entry become The Rose Muddle Mysteries. She also wrote The Palace Cat for London’s Fulham Palace, and her ELVA stories are displayed at Brighton Museum.

In 2020, Imogen started a copywriting business in sunny Hastings, where she lives. She is also a weekly volunteer at a local crisis charity, helping vulnerable people with their creative writing and co-runs Now You See Me—an Arts Council England (ACE) funded project that gives a public platform to underrepresented community voices, so they can be heard, seen and valued. Imogen continues to write stories and mentor new writers too, which she loves.

Yona lives in Devon with 3 tame cats and one wild son.

Since becoming a mum, she writes in the tiny scraps of time between being a character from someone else’s book, chasing up hills, flying to the moon, mud squelching…

Oh, and the day job, making videos and websites.

Rachel Wolfreys lives in Manchester with her family.

She is lucky enough to have a job in which she talks about books all day – she’s an English teacher.

As well as books, she loves music, theatre, her dog, the seaside and spending time with family. And Manchester Utd, of course. 

Rachel’s novel A Strange Kind of Dreaming was longlisted for the Times / Chicken House Prize in 2016.

Harriet writes flash fiction, middle grade and young adult.

Writing started as a form of therapy and is still an escape from the day!

She lives in Cheshire with her daughter and too many animals!

Jo Wyton is a geologist with a thoroughly impractical interest in rocks and an even more impractical interest in writing.

She can usually be found scribbling madly with one hand whilst propping up a growing tower of notebooks with the other.

Occasionally, she can be found buried under them.