It’s quite the day for Janeen Hayat and her Guppy Open Submission winner, EVIE AND MARYAM’S FAMILY TREE!

Not only has it been chosen as part of the Read for Empathy Collection 2026, but it has also been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, Younger Reader category. What a wonderful celebration of a hugely compelling and beautifully-told mystery for children aged nine and up – plus their adults too!

It tells the story of Evie and Maryam, two very different girls in the same class, who are put together for a school project – and in an incredible twist of fate, discover that their families connect all the way back to the time of partition in India, their great-grandparents friends in Delhi at a time of upheaval and tensions. This beautiful story of friendship, family history, race, class and mutual understanding was the winner of the Open Submission Competition in 2023 and we are so delighted that it is being recognised as such an important story for today.

Huge congratulations to Janeen, thank you to Debasmita Gupta for the beautiful cover. And watch this space for news about book two about these two wonderful girls, out this summer!