Mentors

Natascha Biebow is a picture book expert and the founder of Blue Elephant Storyshaping, an editing, coaching and mentoring service for authors and illustrators, both published and pre-published. Natascha has 30 years’ experience commissioning and editing award-winning picture books, pre-school and novelty books, non-fiction, early readers and young fiction for major publishers and independently published authors.

She is an experienced tutor, who has run a number of picture book webinar courses for Write for Kids, and the Editorial Director of Five Quills. In 2018, she was awarded an MBE in recognition for her services to children’s writers and illustrators, and the Stephen Mooser SCBWI Member of the Year in 2019. She is the long-standing Regional Advisor (Co-Chair) of SCBWI British Isles and a member of the SCBWI Advisory Council.

Natascha’s favourite job is collaborating with authors and illustrators at all levels to shape and find the heart of their stories. She is the author of the award-winning, bestselling The Crayon Man: The True Story of the Invention of Crayola Crayons. As an author herself, she understands just how challenging it is to dream up ideas, revise and finesse your book, pitch and hope to get published, deal with rejection and re-imagine, stay motivated and keep up with the business, fit being creative into your life, and constantly work to become a better writer or illustrator. TOGETHER we will go on a storyshaping journey. I can’t wait to meet you and your stories!

Anna McQuinn is editor-at-large at Alanna Max. She is the creator of the successful inclusive series Booky Girl Lulu and Zeki Books. Her eloquent style of writing brings all aspects of a subject together in the most poetic way. She has written over 30 picture books and is published worldwide in many languages by Annick Press, Barefoot Books, Chicken House, Scholastic, O’Brien Press, Alanna Max, and many others.

Fiz Osborne is an agent, editor and award-winning author who co-founded Creative Roots Studio with Rachael Davis-Featherstone in spring 2024. As a former publisher who has worked across picture books, fiction and non-fiction, Fiz's publishing career spans 18 years and until recently included publishing strategy, budget, managerial and acquisition responsibilities. Taking her extensive, hard-earned industry knowledge and channelling it into Creative Roots Studio — a dynamic studio, innovative agency and creative coaching hub — allows Fiz to work with an even greater variety of clients, with a focus on building sustainable careers for the authors and illustrators she represents and collaborates with.

Rashmi Sirdeshpande is a lawyer turned children's author who writes uplifting picture books and illustrated non-fiction. Her debut picture book, Never Show a T-Rex a Book, illustrated by Jericho Prize winner Diane Ewen, won the Society of Authors Queen's Knickers award, was shortlisted for the Laugh Out Loud Book awards, and was selected for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The sequel, Never Teach a Stegosaurus To Do Sums, was shortlisted for the Sainsbury's Children's Book Award. Rashmi was also one of the official authors for World Book Day UK 2022, which seeks to get books into the hands of children all over the UK.

Ken Wilson-Max is an award-winning author, illustrator and publisher of children’s books. His unique and distinctive style always manages to capture special moments between children and grown-ups. He has created over 70 books published in many languages by Scholastic, Macmillan, Chronicle Books, Candlewick Press, Holiday House, Bloomsbury, Alanna Max and many others. Ken is also the patron of the Jericho Prize.