Faculty

Jutta Bauer, is one of the most versatile author-illustrators in the German childrens' book world and can look back at a careen spanning more than four decades. Born in Hamburg, she studied under Professor Siegfried Oelke at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. Since then she has worked as an author and illustrator, and taught illustration at the Bauhaus University Weimar, the HAW Hamburg, and at various summer academies, including Dresden and Valladolid (Spain). She received some of the most prestigious awards in Germany and internationally: The Hans Christian Andersen Award (2010), the German Youth Lit Award (2001), was the runner-up for the same another year, and has been awared the Special Recogontion Price for her body of work in 2009. Jutta Bauer has a son and 2 grandchildren and lives in Hamburg. She is currently nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA). Picture credit: Karen Seggelke

There might be no frigate like a book, but publishing can feel like a voyage on the H.M.S. Surprise. There’s always a twist and there’s never a moment to lose. Laurel’s mission is to help you make the most of today’s opportunities. She’s a strategic problem-solver, tool collector, and co-inventor of the “you never know” theory of publishing. As an epidemiologist, she studied factors that help babies and toddlers thrive. Now she studies the ever-changing world of indie publishing to help middle grade readers find the books they need. Her Seven Kingdoms Fairy Tale series is about discovering the hidden magic in life skills for ages 9 to 12. She writes for Indie Author Magazine, has various advanced degrees, and a tendency to smuggle vegetables into storylines.

Kelley Donner is the bestselling author of numerous children’s books, including "School is More Than a Building" and "The Super Storybook Walk Series." Her work has been spotlighted by renowned platforms such as the BBC and ABC, and featured in prestigious publications like The Washington Post and Business Insider. In 2020, Kelley was recognized as the top-performing self-publisher by SCBWI British Isles, selling over 8,000 books that year. With over 20 years of experience as an educator in the US, UK, and Germany, she holds a Master’s in Illustration and Book Arts from the Cambridge School of Art. In 2024, she founded The Storybook Company and launched StorybookWalk.com. She resides near Munich, Germany, with her husband, three sons, and their cat, Luna.

Candy Gourlay was born in the Philippines, grew up under the Marcos dictatorship and met her husband during a revolution. Candy has written acclaimed books from early years to Young Adult, including Tall Story, a middle grade book about a boy who turns into a giant, which Booktrust has listed as one of the ‘100 Best Books of the Last 100 Years’. Her novel Bone Talk, set during the U.S. invasion of the Philippines, was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Costa Prize. Her most recent book Wild Song transports Bone Talk’s indigenous characters to the St Louis World Fair of 1904. Teen Librarian blogger Matt Imrie called it “heart-wrenchingly beautiful” and The Bookseller dubbed it “A stunning achievement”. She lives in London with her family, where she makes comics and wages war on the snails in her garden.

Anthony Hinton is a Commissioning Editor at David Fickling Books and is part of the team at The Phoenix Comic, where he edits the comic books produced through the DFB/Phoenix partnership, including Jamie Smart's number 1 bestselling Bunny vs Monkey, Neill Cameron's Mega Robo Bros, Laura Ellen Anderson's Evil Emperor Penguin, Adam and Lisa Murphy's Corpse Talk and many more. He has edited many books of children's and YA prose fiction - and non-fiction - working with writers including the Carnegie-shortlisted Candy Gourlay, the YA-prize shortlisted Melinda Salisbury, and the legendary Anne Fine, and was himself shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award for editing the late Tony Mitton's Potter's Boy. He is also an occasional writer for The Phoenix comic, including on their choose-your-own-adventure series Fates and Fortunes. CATEGORIES: MG, YA, Graphic novels

Anita is a multi-award-winning, internationally published author of over a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction for both children and adults. Born and raised in Bern, Switzerland, and with an MA in Economic and Social History from the University of Geneva, Anita has lived, studied and worked in many different places before making Cambridge (UK) home for herself and her family. She's living the cliché and writes in a shed at the back of her garden, drinking English tea and missing Swiss chocolate, with a friendly dog snoring at her feet. When she isn't writing, she talks about writing to anyone who will listen. Anita’s books: http://www.anita-lehmann.com Courses: follow link below.

Alisha is a senior editor and art director at NordSüd (NorthSouth) publishing. Her background is in children’s publishing at some of the big houses in New York: Simon & Schuster, Dorling Kindersley, and Penguin—where she was Senior Editor, Dial Books for Young Readers, and edited bestsellers and books that won the Newbery Honor, Stonewall Book Award, and Batchelder Award for Best Book in Translation. Before taking a year off to travel around the world, she revised the entire badge curriculum for the Girl Scouts' 100th anniversary as Executive Editor, Program Content. Berger graduated from Stanford University with a major in cultural and social anthropology and a minor in Creative Writing. In her off-hours, she is either doing yoga, trail running, working on her travel memoir and middle-grade novel, or reading oodles of picture books to her three-year-old son.

Dr. Paula Peretti studied German and Spanish philology and history in Bonn and Madrid. She earned her Ph.D. in a linguistic area (‘speech act theory’). Since 1993, she has worked as an editor of children's and YA books, occasionally also as translator (Spanish), and as a lecturer. After 10 years with Sauerländer publishing house (Frankfurt, Düsseldorf) and a freelance phase, she took over the management of Boje Verlag at Bastei Lübbe from 2011 to 2016. In 2017, she founded her literary agency in Cologne. She is a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur e.V. and the treasurer of Literaturszene Köln e.V.

Non Pratt has been working as an editor in children’s publishing for many years at Usborne, Catnip Publishing and Walker Books, but also knows the author-side of the business. Their debut Young Adult novel Trouble was published in 2014 by Walker Books and received critical acclaim, shortlisting for the YA Book Prize, the Branford Boase Award and longlisting for the Carnegie Medal. Since then, Non has written three more novels published by Walker: Remix, Truth or Dare and Every Little Piece of My Heart and two novellas, published by Barrington Stoke: Unboxed and Second Best Friend. Since 2020, Non has been working at Walker Books, where they commissioned Louie Stowell’s best-selling Loki: A Bad God’s Guide series. Non is passionate about demystifying the publishing process and providing resources for writers trying to break into children’s publishing.

Melinda Salisbury is a four-time Carnegie nominated and bestselling author of multiple teen and young adult novels, including the Sin Eater's Daughter series, Hold Back the Tide, and Her Dark Wings; a Guardian Children's Book of the Year 2022 and a The Reading Agency Book of the Year 2022 pick. Collectively, her books have been nominated and shortlisted for numerous national and international awards and accolades, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the YA Book Prize, the Branford Boase, the Edgar Awards, the 2016 and 2019, 2021 and 2023 Carnegie medals, YALSA Best YA 2022, Eason's YA Book of the Month, and more. Her books have been published in sixteen countries to date.

(Paula Peretti Agency) Julia Smith supports the Paula Peretti agency as a freelancer in the areas of German-language authors and foreign licenses as well as in general agency matters. She studied German language and literature, media studies and history in Marburg and was an editor at Anaconda Verlag, Cologne, for 14 years. She is a member of the Verband der Freien Lektorinnen und Lektoren e.V. Since 2021, she has been a freelance editor specializing in children's and young adult literature. She lives in Cologne with her British-German family.

(Paula Peretti Agency) After completing an insurance apprenticeship, she studied cultural studies in Hildesheim. During and after her studies, she worked in the editorial department of various children's and young adult book publishers, including Gerstenberg, Rowohlt, Boje and Sauerländer. She has lived in Duisburg with her family since 2010, working as a freelance editor and translator from English, specializing in children's and young adult literature. For the Paula Peretti Agency, she focuses on international license brokerage (UK, Canada, France) as well as German-language children's and young adult books.

Sanne lives in beautiful Tübingen in the south of Germany with her husband and her teenage daughter, her two older children popping in to visit now and then. She sketches, paints and writes whenever - and wherever - she can. She has a degree in Art Therapy and a lot of experience with children, both professionally and with her own, which has shaped the way she paints, and the stories she tells. Her books have been published in Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Romania, the UK, Australia, Canada and the US. She loves painting in gouache, watercolour and with coloured pencils, aiming to develop a particular visual language for each project.

Katja Rammer is a native German who came to writing only late and after a Master’s degree in Business Informatics (don’t ask!) but is now fully committed to short fiction, poetry and whatever her current WIP might be. She is the Regional Advisor for the SCBWI’s Germany/Austria chapter, married mom of two teenagers, and an avid gardener. She’s often found outside discussing plot holes with specimens of her extensive tomato plant collection.