Teachers' Reading Challenge Ambassadors

Introducing our 2026 Author Ambassadors – a passionate group of children’s authors who are helping to champion the Teachers’ Reading Challenge!

With the generous support of HarperCollins, these authors are joining forces with The Reading Agency and The Open University to inspire educators across the UK to explore more children’s literature, deepen their reading for pleasure practice, and discover books that truly unlock the power of reading for young people.

Let’s get acquainted…

Rashmi Sirdeshpande

Rashmi Sirdeshpande is a neurodivergent children’s author and an advocate for underrepresented voices in children’s publishing. A former World Book Day author and BookTrust Writer-in-Residence, Rashmi has won a number of awards, including the Diverse Book Awards (for Dadaji’s Paintbrush, illustrated by Ruchi Mhasane) and the Society of Authors Queen’s Knickers Award, which celebrates “outstanding” picture books (for Never Show a T-Rex a Book, illustrated by Diane Ewen). Her factual book Good News (illustrated by Adam Hayes) was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards and her latest, Amazing Asia (illustrated by Jason Lyon) won the Children’s Choice at the School Library Association’s Information Book Awards.

Adam Stower

Adam Stower is an award-winning illustrator and author who has been drawing pictures and making up stories for as long as he can remember. Adam was born in England but grew up in Switzerland and Germany. After nine years at an ancient boarding school in Norfolk Adam trained at the Norwich School of Art earning a first class Honours Degree in Illustration. He moved south to continue his studies at Brighton University and achieved a Masters degree in Narrative Illustration and Editorial Design. Adam fell in love with the city and lives there still with his wife. Adam has been working as an illustrator for over 25 years and began writing his own books in 2004. His books have achieved acclaim and awards at home and abroad.

Samantha Lewis

Samantha left school with the ambition to become a ‘research scientist’ who would one day discover a cure for cancer. Unfortunately, while studying Chemistry at university, what she actually discovered was that she was really bad at working in a lab (dangerously bad). For the sake of everyone’s safety (including her own), she decided to embark on a career telling other people about how amazing science is instead – first, as a secondary school teacher, and now as a science producer and author (TV and radio credits include Einstein and the Bomb for Netflix and Just One Thing for BBC Sounds, and her first two books, published by Farshore, are Elements of the Day and Forces of the Day). Samantha lives in London with her husband and two sons.

Jack Meggitt-Phillips

Jack Meggitt-Phillips is an author, scriptwriter and presenter whose work has been performed at The Roundhouse and featured on Radio 4. His bestselling debut children’s series The Beast and the Bethany is translated into over 30 languages, and has had a major film deal announced. The series has also won the West Sussex Children’s Book Award, the Alexandra Palace Children’s Book Award, the Stockport Children’s Book Award, the Fantastic Book Award, the Awesome Book Award, and the Channel Island Children’s Book Award.