Little Rebels 2017 Judges

Catherine Johnson

 Catherine Johnson is the author of 14 novels for children and young adults, including Sawbones, winner of the Young Quills Best Historical Fiction prize, and, most recently, The Curious Case of the Lady Caraboo. Lady Caraboo has was nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2016. Catherine is passionate about including people in history who have traditionally been excluded. In addition to her novels, she has also written for radio, film and television including the drama Bullet Boy (2004) and Holby City. Catherine describes herself as a “rubbish blogger” but we disagree- catch her blogs at The History Girls. By the way…Some of you will have met Catherine already when she came to speak on our panel, ‘Where Are All The Little Rebels? at the London Radical Bookfair in May 2014. Visit Catherine Johnson here!

Wendy Cooling
Wendy Cooling was awarded the Eleanor Farjeon Award in 2006 for a lifetime spent promoting children’s literature. Cooling founded Bookstart in 1992 with a pilot project which found that when parents shared books with their very young children they began school with significant advantages.

Cooling’s career in the field of children’s literature is extensive and varied. She is an author and, most recently, edited two poetry collections illustrated by Piet Grobler, A Is Amazing: Poems About Feelings (Frances Lincoln: 2012) and All The Wild Wonders (2010). In addition, she has: judged several children’s book awards (including the Mother Goose Award);  run children’s literature campaigns and festivals such as National Children’s Bookweek and WORDPLAY; worked as a teacher, bookstore manager, library director. Cooling continues her myriad roles to this day, acting as an adviser and consultant on children’s literature, often appearing as a guest speaker on radio and television.

B. J. Epstein

B.J. Epstein is a senior lecturer in literature and public engagement at the University of East Anglia, where she specialises in children’s literature. She’s also a writer, editor, and Swedish-to-English translator. She is the author of Are the Kids All Right? The Representation of LGBTQ Characters in Children’s and Young Adult Lit; Translating Expressive Language in Children’s Literature; and Ready, Set, Teach!; the editor of two books on translation in the Nordic countries and co-editor of a forthcoming book on queer and/in translation; and the translator or writer of many other essays, articles, short stories, and other texts. B.J. can be reached through http://www.awaywithwords.se.