About us
Guppy Books is an independent children’s fiction publisher based in Oxford, UK. Set up in 2019 by publisher Bella Pearson, Guppy publishes an eclectic, inclusive and entertaining list of fiction and graphic novels for children from the age of five to eighteen. Since its first publication in September 2019, Guppy titles have been shortlisted for all the major children’s book prizes including the Carnegie Medal, the Costa Children’s Book Award, the Young Adult Book Prize, the Branford Boase and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. In 2023, The Cats We Meet Along the Way by Nadia Mikail won the Waterstones Overall Children’s Book of the Year and in 2024, two Guppy titles were awarded Week Junior Book of the Year awards.
Small but mighty is our motto – we publish the very best authors and illustrators from around the world. From February 2026, our list will be represented by Bounce Sales and Marketing and distributed through Macmillan Distribution Services.
Bella Pearson
Publisher and owner
Bella has worked in children’s publishing for nearly thirty years After five years in a children’s independent bookshop and having completed an MA in children’s literature, she began her publishing career at Transworld Children’s Books, moving to David Fickling Books in Oxford in 2001. Over seventeen years she worked with the company both under the umbrella of Random House Children’s Books and as an independent publisher, moving from editor to publishing director. She has received the Branford Boase Award twice and been shortlisted seven times, and has worked on countless award-winning titles for both children and young adults.
Bella set up Guppy Books in 2019 and is proud to be curating a list of the very finest and most entertaining books for children of all ages, as well as working with some of the most talented and inspiring authors, illustrators and colleagues in the world of children’s publishing.
Photo © Ian Wallman
Hannah Featherstone
Editor
Hannah is a children’s book editor with over twenty years of publishing experience. For six of those years she was an editor at David Fickling Books, where she learned a huge amount about recognising talented writers and developing strong stories.
As a freelance fiction editor she works on a range of fiction titles for a number of different children’s publishers, including Head of Zeus, Pushkin Press, Hot Key Books and Usborne.
She lives in Warwickshire, balancing editing with looking after three small children. Obviously they are all bookworms in the making!
Ness Wood
Designer
Ness Wood is an award-winning freelance art director and book designer who has worked in children’s publishing for many years. During her career she has worked for major publishers and has taught Publishing at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), taught on the MA Illustration course at Goldsmiths, University of London, run the Cambridge School of Art Summer School (2014-2020) and taught Design History at the University of Brighton.
Ness is co-founder of Orange Beak Studio, which offers illustrators, designers and picture book makers one-to-one tutorials, mentoring, portfolio surgeries, workshops and varied children’s book related events. Ness has been a Bologna Ragazzi judge, a recipient of the BBD&P award in the Graphic Novel Category and in 2026 will be a judge on the CBNN Prize. She has worked on many award-winning books, details of which can be found on her website.
Ness is known for her encouraging, straightforward and collaborative approach with illustrators, authors and students.
Catherine Alport
Publicist
Catherine started her publishing career in 2008 as PA to the Managing Director of Scholastic Children’s Books before moving into a publicity role, working at Scholastic, Macmillan and Penguin Random House. During her time in-house she worked with a range of authors, illustrators and poets including Emily Gravett, Carol Ann Duffy, Alex T Smith, Sarah McIntyre, Maggie Stiefvater, Philip Reeve and David Solomons. She was also responsible for the publicity during the launch of the best-selling Tom Gates series by Liz Pichon, and the Goth Girl series by Chris Riddell, who she also worked closely with during his tenure as Children’s Laureate.
In 2018 Catherine embarked on a freelance career, working with a variety of clients from publishers to literacy charities to directly for authors. She has been working with Guppy since we launched in 2019 and is the best port of call for any media, review or event requests. She can be contacted on hello@catherinealportpr.co.uk and is on Instagram as at.catherinealportpr
Kat Jones
GUPPY SCHOOL
Kat is a highly experienced educational consultant, content writer and English tutor. Prior to venturing into the freelance world, she worked as a teacher in Oxfordshire for seventeen years. During her teaching career Kat worked with students ranging from 5- 16 years of age and she held leadership roles in English and Key Stage 2 at her school.
Kat has written units of work for Hamilton Brookes and she facilitates online book clubs for international students. She is passionate about promoting reading for pleasure.
Liz Scott
GUPPY PUBLICIST
Liz is an award-winning Yorkshire-based children’s and YA book PR and consultant with more than 20 years experience working with UK publishers to deliver creative, impactful publicity campaigns from picture books to young adult.
She was the winner of the PPC YA publicity campaign of the Year 2024 and shortlisted for The Bookseller FutureBook Freelancer of the Year 2024.
Liz is Treasurer of the Publishers’ Publicity Circle, and a co-founder of the Children’s Books North Network established to support children’s books authors and illustrators in the north of England and to champion regional diversity in children’s books.