Lisa Thompson (born 1973) is an English children's book author.

Biography

Thompson was born and raised in the

London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. The ...

(

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed ...

, Upminster), England. After leaving school at age 16, she worked in insurance for a couple of years. In 1991, she joined the BBC, eventually becoming a radio broadcast assistant. She left the BBC in 2002 and later became a freelance radio broadcast assistant with an independent production company. At age 43, Thompson debuted her first book.

Writing

Thompson's debut novel, ''The Goldfish Boy'', was published by Scholastic in 2017. A review in ''

Kirkus ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' wrote that the book "strikes the perfect balance, seemingly without compromise, between an issue-driven novel and one with broad, commercial appeal." ''The Goldfish Boy'' was a national bestseller and was shortlisted for the

Waterstones Children's Book Prize The Waterstones Children's Book Prize is an annual award given to a work of children's literature published during the previous year. First awarded in 2005, the purpose of the prize is "to uncover hidden talent in children's writing" and is there ...

. The following year, Thompson published ''The Light Jar''. The book was described in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as a "a thoughtful and hugely empathetic book". It was followed by ''The Day I Was Erased'' (2019) and ''The Boy Who Fooled the World'' (2020). Thompson's first novella, ''Owen and the Soldier'' (2019), was published by

Barrington Stoke Barrington Stoke is a children's book publisher based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company was founded in 1998 and publishes fiction and non-fiction adapted to different reading ages for reluctant, under-confident and dyslexic children and teens. ...

and became the first

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

-friendly title to be shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards. That same year, Thompson contributed a short story to ''Return to Wonderland'', a collection of new stories set in

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

's fictional world. Her second novella, ''The House of Clouds'', was published in 2020, and in 2021 ''The Graveyard Riddle'' (which revisited characters from her first novel, ''The Goldfish Boy'') was followed by her third novella, ''The Small Things''. ''The Rollercoaster Boy'' was released in 2022 and was followed by ''Sidney Makes a Wish'', a story for younger children with illustrations by Jess Rose, and was her fourth book for Barrington Stoke.

Personal life

Thompson is married to Stuart and they have two children, Ben and Isobel.

Published works

Novels

Novellas

For younger children

Short stories

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Lisa 1973 births People from Hornchurch 21st-century English women writers English children's writers Living people