Child's Play

Recognition Ossiri and the Bala Mengro has received:

Primary Teacher Update Bronze Award Winner 2016

Little Rebels Award Shortlist 2017

Hampshire Illustrated Book Award Shortlist 2017

Featured in Empathy Lab's 2017 Read for Empathy guide

Authors

Richard O’Neill was born and brought up in a large traditional Romani family in the North of England. He is an award-winning storyteller and writer who tells his original stories in schools, museums, libraries and theatres throughout the UK. A sixth generation storyteller, he grew up in a vigorous oral storytelling tradition, learning his skills from some of the best Traveling storytellers in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Richard is the author of eleven children’s books, and his stories and plays have been broadcast on BBC Radio. His digital stories have been enjoyed throughout the world, and in 2013, he was the recipient of the National Literacy Hero award.

Katharine Quarmby is a writer, journalist and Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the London School of Economics. She has written both for children and adults. Her first book for children, Fussy Freya was published in 2008; while her first non-fiction book, Scapegoat: Why We Are Failing Disabled People (Portobello Press, 2011), won the prestigious Ability Media International Literature award. Her second non-fiction book, on Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, No Place to Call Home: Inside the Real Lives of Gypsies and Travellers, was published by Oneworld in 2013.

Illustrator

Hannah Tolson was born and raised in a small town near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. After studying at Leeds College of Art, she moved to Falmouth, Cornwall, where she gained a first class Honours degree in Illustration in 2013. She continues to live and work there, making pictures from her little desk overlooking the sea.