A.F. Steadman

After undergoing potentially life-threatening kidney surgery at the age of four, Annabel Steadman enrolled in private school King’s, Canterbury with the aid of a music bursary and went on to study law at Cambridge University. Two years into her legal training, she had an epiphany about a warrior unicorn and decided to abandon the law in favour of writing. She penned a book of short stories on her creative writing course which secured her an agent, but it wasn’t until she returned to the idea of the warrior unicorn that her career began to soar.

Her debut children’s fantasy novel, Skandar and the Unicorn Thief (2022), became the subject of a bidding war between publishers and led to Steadman receiving a record-breaking seven figure advance. A gripping story set on a mysterious island off the British maninland and featuring young unicorn riders facing down a deadly plot from a sinister figure called the Weaver, Skandar and the Unicorn Thief received widespread acclaim and went on to scoop the prestigious Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year 2022. The second instalment of the series, Skandar and the Phantom Rider, will be published in 2023.