A host of local authors and illustrators have joined Get Suffolk Reading’s mission to encourage a love of reading and writing for disadvantaged children and young people across the county. Read their bios below, and head to our Stories of Suffolk competition page to be in with the chance of winning a visit from Marjoke Henrichs to your school!
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz is the author of the number one bestselling Alex Rider books and the Power of Five series. He enjoys huge international acclaim as a writer for both children and adults. After the success of his first James Bond novel, Trigger Mortis, he was invited back by the Ian Fleming Estate to write a second, Forever and a Day.
His most recent bestselling crime novels include Magpie Murders, followed up with Moonflower Murders in 2020. The Word is Murder, introduced Detective Daniel Hawthorne, followed up by The Sentence is Death and coming in 2021, A Line to Kill. Anthony has won numerous awards, including the Bookseller Association/Nielsen Author of the Year Award, the Children’s Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards, and the Red House Children’s Book Award. In 2014 Anthony was awarded an OBE for Services to Literature.
He has also created and written many major television series, including Collision, New Blood and the BAFTA-winning Foyle’s War. The bestselling Alex Rider adventures have been adapted for television and are available to watch on Amazon Prime.
James Mayhew
James Mayhew has been creating books for children for over 30 years, including the Kate Greenaway Medal longlisted Mrs Noah’s Pockets and its beautiful sequel, Mrs Noah’s Garden, with Jackie Morris, Gaspard the Fox with Zeb Soanes, Nen and the Lonely Fisherman with Ian Eagleton and the bestselling Katie and Ella Bella series. He loves experimenting with different techniques and finding just the right approach for each new project. Alongside his work creating books, James works with a huge variety of orchestras and musicians, presenting highly acclaimed concerts that combine music, story and art, created live on stage. He has performed all over the UK, including the Royal Albert Hall, illustrating and illuminating classics like Scheherazade and William Tell, stories now told in Once Upon a Tune. He lives in Suffolk.
Polly Dunbar
Polly Dunbar is one of the post popular illustrators working in the UK today. Her bestselling book, Penguin, won numerous awards including the BookTrust Early Years Award, the Nestle Silver Children's Book Prize and the Red House Children's Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenway Medal. She was also chosen as one of BookTrust's Ten Best illustrators.
Polly has illustrated books by David Almond, Michael Morpurgo and her mother, Joyce Dunbar. She is also the illustrator of The Hug and While We Can't Hug, written by Eoin McLaughlin and published by Faber. She created Tilly and Friends, now an animated series on CBeebies, and many of her other stories have been adapted for the stage. She is also co-founder of Long Nose Poppets, an award-winning theatre company. She lives in the Waveney Valley, Suffolk, with her family.
Tallulah Smith
Hello my name is Tallulah, I am an illustrator who lives by the sea at Felixstowe in Suffolk. I spend most of days either scribbling away on my ipad, in a notebook or making things on my computer. I am a big fan of swimming, trying new foods and reading travelling books. I’m so proud to support Get Suffolk Reading, there is no better adventure than escaping into a good book!
Marjoke Henrichs
I was born in The Netherlands, but have lived and worked in the UK as an artist and theatre Designer for many years.
In 1995 I took part in the UK theatre design entry which won the Gold Medal at the Prague Quadrennial. Recently, I designed the set for ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, a children’s show for Northern Ballet.
I paint my semi abstract landscapes on large canvases at Butley Mills Studios close to where I live on the Suffolk Coast.
After my two children had grown up, I studied for an MA in children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art and graduated in February 2019 with a distinction.
My debut picture book ‘No! Said Rabbit’ has been published by Scallywag Press and has been translated into 10 languages. Currently I am working on my second book, and many others are taking form in my head, with my children, the dog and the cat being great inspirations!