Katherine Rundell

The past 12 months has confirmed Katherine Rundell as the pre-eminent children’s author of her generation. On publication of her middle-grade title Impossible Creatures (named Children’s Fiction Book of the Year), author Michael Morpurgo asserted: "There was Tolkien, there is Pullman, and now there is Katherine Rundell."

The award-winning John Donne biographer, essayist, St Catherine’s College fellow, tightrope walker, rooftop climber and screenwriter is also a campaigning voice for the importance of books for children, and a powerful cultural figure whose unique mix of brain power, eloquence and fero­cious imagination have delivered dazzling results.

Rundell’s is the kind of story publishers dream of. Her first book was published in her early twen­ties, her second won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the Blue Peter Award, her fourth a Costa. She’s an author with a huge imagination, an encyclopedic knowledge, vital and vibrant storytelling, and the ability to infuse any subject matter with warmth, wit and curiosity.

Last year saw the paperback of her Donne biography Super-Infinite, picture book The Zebra’s Great Escape and non-fiction title The Golden Mole. Impossible Creatures has sold more than five times her previous children’s hardback book: this really has been the year of Katherine Rundell - undoubtedly the first of many.