Francesca Armour-Chélu is a novelist, children’s author and short-story writer. Her first children’s book, Fenn Halflin and the Fearzero (Walker Books, 2016), a dystopia set in a flooded world, was longlisted for the Branford Boase award, the Little Rebels award and the New Angle prize. It was also shortlisted for the Mal Peet Children’s award, along with its sequel, Fenn Halflin and the Seaborn (Walker Books, 2017). Her third children’s book, The Butterfly Circus (Walker Books, 2019), is an adventure about a young girl who finds her courage after her shadow magically comes to life. The Starving Ghost, a tale set in Japan about the power play between a homeless woman and a wealthy businessman, won the Mslexia International Short Story competition, and Lemon Ink Over Flame, a novel about the dark secrets in an isolated Suffolk village, was shortlisted for the Tibor Jones Pageturner prize.

After reading English and Drama at Goldsmiths, University of London, Francesca began a career in Museum Education and then libraries where she continues to work part-time. She has run creative-writing sessions in schools, libraries and literature festivals, and for the last three years has collaborated with the INK Festival creating workshops to encourage young people to develop their own writing talents. When not writing she plays the piano, draws, and walks her rescue dog in the Suffolk countryside where she grew up. She is currently working on her fifth book and a TV screenplay. She is an RLF Fellow based at the University of Suffolk.