A.F. Steadman

Two years into training to be a lawyer, Annabel Steadman had an epiphany about a warrior unicorn. Opting for writing instead of the law, she enrolled on a creative writing course and saw that kernel of an idea grow to become her debut children’s novel Skandar and the Unicorn Thief.

The manuscript was the subject of an intense bidding war between publishers and went on to become one of the most successful children’s fantasy novels of the twenty-first century, scooping the accolade of Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year in 2022. A gripping story set on a mysterious island off the British mainland and featuring young unicorn riders facing down a deadly plot from a sinister figure called the Weaver, the book has thus far spawned four equally well received sequels.