About Us
Dinosaur Books Ltd is a micro publishing company, producing thrilling, inclusive children’s fiction for ages 5 - 14 and championing under-represented voices.
We are passionate about reading for pleasure and creating stories that children love. As a Black owned and led publishing company, we want to see greater inclusion across the whole publishing industry.
Tons of fun and hard work!
Our story so far ….
Find our more about our publishing journey. Dinosaur Books’ founder, Sonya McGilchrist was interviewed for the Bookseller about the ups and downs of setting up a children’s publishing company.
Our books are aimed at children aged 5 - 14 with an emphasis on storytelling that appeals to our audience: we produce books that children love to read.
Our titles reflect the diversity of our company and our belief in inclusion: we champion authors and illustrators that are under-represented in publishing and we often work with debut writers and illustrators.
We are a small company, with a big impact: our authors’ work has been shortlisted and longlisted for various awards and prizes including the prestigious Young Quill Award, by the Historical Association and the Branford Boase Award - which has a track record of spotting the most talented children’s writers. We are generally the only micro publisher to be included in these awards and we are proud of the achievements of our talented authors.
We’re drawn to uncommon settings and we like to combine thrilling adventures with thought provoking ideas and to celebrate the diversity of our beautiful world.
ABOUT OUR AUTHORS
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Cheryl Diane Parkinson
AUTHOR
Cheryl Diane Parkinson is a British Caribbean writer. She has taught for 17 years; imparting her love of English Literature to GCSE and A Level students. Recently Cheryl has a PhD in Creative Writing at Birmingham University. Her publishing history includes writing for ByLine Times (2021), The Voice Online, and Fem Magazine. As a writer she is concerned with the representation of Black people and equality for all. Her passion is creating compelling characters.
Cheryl’s first work for Dinosaur Books is a middle grade story about one girl’s determination to keep playing the game that both she and her Jamaican grandpa love - cricket!
She is currently working on her second middle grade story for Dinosaur Books Ltd
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N.S. Blackman
AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Nigel Blackman is an established author and illustrator who writes for middle grade and younger readers. Nigel is also an editor at Dinosaur Books.
Nigel is a popular visitor to schools across the UK and has also undertaken a schools tour in Los Angeles, by popular request of fans of his Secret Dinosaur series, which is sold in several countries around the world.
Nigel is passionate about children reading for pleasure and he writes his stories as page turning adventures designed to capture and retain the interest of children whether they are reluctant or avid readers
Nigel’s latest titles are: Undercover Alien, - an illustrated space themed adventure for ages 8+ and the Fantastic Electric Mash Up Machines - an illustrated racing adventure for ages 6+.
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Dinah Orji
AUTHOR
Dinah Orji has been writing stories since her childhood in England and Nigeria.
Dinah’s debut title is Children of the Benin Kingdom, a short children’s novel set in the medieval Benin Empire (now a part of Edo State, in southern Nigeria). A tale of twins, dynasty and daring, the story links to the KS2 history curriculum and is part of our History Adventures series.
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Rosie Radford
AUTHOR
Rosie Radford’s writing draws on her rich and varied life experience. Her jobs have ranged from being a cleaner, to a mentor for people with diverse life skills and along the way Rosie has continuously developed her love of stories.
Rosie’s debut book for Dinosaur Books is Stage Fright, a series of interconnected thrilling and mysterious tales set in a provincial theatre.
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Natalie Cooper
ARTIST AND ILLUSTRATOR
Natalie Cooper is an artist, creative workshop leader and author.
She has worked on the character development for Fantastic Electric Mash Up Machines - our latest title for 6 - 9 year olds, which will be published in June 2023.
Natalie also devised the worksheets which accompany Children of the Benin Kingdom (written by Dinah Orji). As an experienced leader of workshops based on African cultures, she offers creative sessions which explore the book’s themes in addition to wider aspects of African culture, particularly traditional music.
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Clare Brienza
ILLUSTRATOR
Clare is a graduate of De Montfort University, Leicester, gaining a First Class Honours Degree in Graphic Design and Illustration. Since graduating Clare has worked for several publishers, including The NSPCC. For Dinosaur Books she has worked on our book of short stories, Stage Fright and our science fiction title for middle grade readers, Undercover Alien. She also works in a primary school providing individual support for children with special educational needs.
Sonya Mcgilchrist
Owner, Publisher and Commissioning Editor
Sonya has worked for BBC One, BBC Two and Radio 4 and she pursues the same values in publishing that motivated her as a journalist - integrity, a belief in quality and above all, respect for the audience.
Her aim is to offer young readers page-turning stories that feature a range of characters and locations that go beyond those that are usually represented in children’s books. This could be through our characters’ class or race, as well as through the locations and cultural context of our stories.
