Elizabeth Laird
Elizabeth Laird is an award-winning author of over 150 books including novels, picture books and folk story collections.
She was born in New Zealand in 1943, to parents of Scottish decent. They moved to London in 1945 and she grew up there with her 4 siblings. She went to university in Bristol, and then as she'd always wanted to see the world she set off on her travels. She lived and worked all over the world - in Malaysia, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Russia. Her adventures inspired her to write and that is how she made her living when she returned to live in London. Elizabeth has won many awards for her books, including the Children's Book Award for Kiss the Dust, the Smarties Young Judges Award, and the Lancashire Book Award, and she has been shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal six times.
Her latest book is called A House Without Walls and was published in 2019 by Macmillan Children's Books.
Elizabeth now lives in Britain, but she still likes to travel as much as she can.
- Children's Book Award
- Smarties Young Judges Award
- Carnegie Medal Shortlist
- Lancashire Book Award
Praise for Welcome to Nowhere
Deeply moving... you can always count on Elizabeth Laird to write fearlessly but with compassion and this story will give readers plenty to think about.
Did you know…
Elizabeth Laird's childhood home was next to a railway line, and each night she'd listen to the trains chugging by and dream she was a passenger travelling to a distant land.
Elizabeth went to Malaysia when she was eighteen, and decided that she loved travelling, even though she was terribly ill with typhoid and was bitten by a sea snake!
One of the nicest jobs Elizabeth ever had was playing the violin in the Iraq symphony orchestra!
Find out more on Elizabeth Laird's website
Publishers' websites
Watch:
Watch this interview with Elizabeth
