Elle McNicoll

Elle McNicoll (born October 5, 1992) is a Scottish children's writer.

McNicoll's debut novel, A Kind of Spark (2020) follows the efforts of an autistic[1] eleven-year-old girl, Addie, to establish a memorial to the witch trials in her Scottish hometown. McNicoll is autistic herself.[2] The book was children's book of the week in The Times and The Sunday Times.[3][4] and won both the Overall and Younger Fiction prizes at the 2021 Waterstones Children's Book Prize.[5] It also won the Blue Peter Book Award for Best Story, voted for by children.[6] McNicoll was also nominated for the Branford Boase Award [7] and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal. McNicoll's debut was also named Overall Book of the Year by Blackwell's , beating titles in the Adult Market.[8]

Her second novel, Show Us Who You Are, was published in March, 2021, and was Children's Book of the Week in The Times.[9] It was also the Children's Book of the Month, as chosen by Blackwell's.[10] It was nominated for Best Children's Fiction in the 2021 Books Are My Bag Awards, and McNicoll was also nominated for Best Breakthrough Author. [11]

McNicoll has been described as "undoubtedly an outstanding new talent in children’s books [who] will inspire readers young and old for generations to come”.[12]

Her debut novel has also been optioned for a television adaptation. [13]

McNicoll has been an outspoken advocate for better representations of neurodiversity in publishing.[14]

She currently lives in East London.