Jamila Gavin
Writer, representing the Children’s Book of the Year judges

Jamila Gavin, representing the Children’s Award panel, was born in India to an English mother and an Indian father and settled in England at the age of 11. Her dual inheritance has permeated her writing – she is determined to reflect different ethnic origins and backgrounds in her books. A regular visitor to schools and libraries all over the country, her first book was published in 1979 and she won last year’s Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year with Coram Boy. Grandpa Chatterji was televised for Channel 4 and her first radio play was broadcast on Radio 4 in September 2001.

Favourite books
Viper of Milan by Marjorie Bowen; Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling; Winnie-the Pooh by AA Milne

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