Annabel Pitcher

Annabel Pitcher graduated from Oxford University with a degree in English literature and an ambition to be a children’s author. Her sensational first novel My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece (Orion, 2011) won the Branford Boase award for most outstanding debut, and was shortlisted for several major national awards, including the CILIP Carnegie Medal and the Children’s Book Award.

Annabel followed up her debut with, Ketchup Clouds, which won the Waterstones Children’s Prize 2013, and the Edgar Prize for YA in the US in 2014. Her next novel was Silence is Goldfish (Orion, 2015) and then The Last Days of Archie Maxwell (Barrington Stoke, 2017), both nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. Annabel is a hugely successful international author, whose work is published in twenty-five territories.

Annabel’s first picture book (Happy Birthday, Dog!) was published in early 2022, the first in a series for Hodder Children’s Books. It is illustrated by Fabi Santiago, whose book, Tiger in a Tutu, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Annabel loves visiting schools to talk about her work and has been a guest lecturer at Sheffield Hallam and Bath Spa Universities on their Creative Writing MAs. She regularly appears at all the major literature festivals including Edinburgh, Cheltenham and Hay.