Sussex author on shortlist for prestigious book award

With her book, Almost Anything, she is now in the running for the literary award that recognises the best in literature for under-fives published in the past year and grants the winner a £5,000 prize.

Sophy (pictured) lives and works in Sussex, writing and illustrating children’s books.

Where Bear?, her first book, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2015 and she was named the World Book Day Illustrator for 2015 and 2016.

Her shortlisted book, Almost Anything, has been praised by Sarah Brown, president of global children’s charity Theirworld and executive chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education, one of the judging panel. She said: “It reflects the concerns that little people have. So many children are reticent about having a go at things, or they give up if they aren’t good straight away. I couldn’t think of anything else like it.”

Oscar’s Book Prize was created in honour of Oscar Ashton who died at the age of three and a half from an undetected heart condition, and the award is supported by Amazon and the National Literacy Trust.

It searches for the best in children’s stories – and ones Oscar himself would have loved.

This year’s winner will be announced on May 9 at a party hosted by the May Fair Hotel in central London.