Marcus Rashford MBE is Manchester United's iconic number 10 and an England International footballer. During the lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Marcus teamed up with the food distribution charity FareShare to cover the free school meal deficit for vulnerable children across the UK, raising in excess of 20 million pounds. Marcus successfully lobbied the British Government to u-turn policy around the free food voucher program - a campaign that has been deemed the quickest turnaround of Government policy in the history of British politics - so that 1.3 million vulnerable children continued to have access to food supplies whilst schools were closed during the pandemic.
In response to Marcus's End Child Food Poverty campaign, the British Government committed £400 million to support vulnerable children across the UK, supporting 1.7 million children for the next 12 months. In October 2020, he was appointed MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Marcus has committed himself to combating child poverty in the UK and his book You Are a Champion is an inspiring guide for children about reaching their full potential.
He is the author of the beloved The Breakfast Club Adventures series. Abiola Bello is a Nigerian-British, prize-winning, bestselling children's and YA author who was born and raised in London. She is an advocate for diversity in books for young people. She's the author of the award-winning fantasy series Emily Knight and was nominated for the CILIP's Carnegie Award, won London's BIG Read 2019, and was a finalist for the People's Book Prize Best Children's Book.
Abiola contributed to The Very Merry Murder Club, a collection of mysteries from thirteen exciting and diverse children's writers and was selected as Waterstones Children's Book of the Month. Her debut YA, Love in Winter Wonderland was an Amazon's Editor's Choice and was featured in The Guardian's Children's and Teens Best New Novels. Only for the Holidays was The Bookseller One To Watch, one of Waterstones Best Paperbacks of 2023 and was featured in The Guardian's Children's and Teens Best New Novels.
The Love Dare is shortlisted for Peters Children's Book of the Year 2025. Abiola won The Black British Business Awards 2023 for Arts and Media and The London Book Fair Trailblazer Awards 2018. She is the co-founder of Hashtag Press, Hashtag BLAK and The Diverse Book Awards. She has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Female First Magazine, The Mirror, BBC1XTRA to name a few. As well as being a writer, Abiola is a professional dancer.
She performed for more than a decade in prestigious venues including The Royal Opera House, The Barbican, Sadler's Wells, Hammersmith Apollo and Unicorn Theatre. Abiola has also appeared on BBC's The Apprentice, Got To Dance and Street Dance AllStars The Movie. Marta Kissi is a Bath based illustrator, originally from Warsaw. She studied BA Illustration & Animation at Kingston University and MA Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art.
Her favourite part of being an illustrator is bringing stories to life by designing charming characters and the wonderful worlds they live in. She shares her artist studio with her husband James and their pet plant Trevor.
In response to Marcus's End Child Food Poverty campaign, the British Government committed £400 million to support vulnerable children across the UK, supporting 1.7 million children for the next 12 months. In October 2020, he was appointed MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours. Marcus has committed himself to combating child poverty in the UK and his book You Are a Champion is an inspiring guide for children about reaching their full potential.
He is the author of the beloved The Breakfast Club Adventures series. Abiola Bello is a Nigerian-British, prize-winning, bestselling children's and YA author who was born and raised in London. She is an advocate for diversity in books for young people. She's the author of the award-winning fantasy series Emily Knight and was nominated for the CILIP's Carnegie Award, won London's BIG Read 2019, and was a finalist for the People's Book Prize Best Children's Book.
Abiola contributed to The Very Merry Murder Club, a collection of mysteries from thirteen exciting and diverse children's writers and was selected as Waterstones Children's Book of the Month. Her debut YA, Love in Winter Wonderland was an Amazon's Editor's Choice and was featured in The Guardian's Children's and Teens Best New Novels. Only for the Holidays was The Bookseller One To Watch, one of Waterstones Best Paperbacks of 2023 and was featured in The Guardian's Children's and Teens Best New Novels.
The Love Dare is shortlisted for Peters Children's Book of the Year 2025. Abiola won The Black British Business Awards 2023 for Arts and Media and The London Book Fair Trailblazer Awards 2018. She is the co-founder of Hashtag Press, Hashtag BLAK and The Diverse Book Awards. She has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Female First Magazine, The Mirror, BBC1XTRA to name a few. As well as being a writer, Abiola is a professional dancer.
She performed for more than a decade in prestigious venues including The Royal Opera House, The Barbican, Sadler's Wells, Hammersmith Apollo and Unicorn Theatre. Abiola has also appeared on BBC's The Apprentice, Got To Dance and Street Dance AllStars The Movie. Marta Kissi is a Bath based illustrator, originally from Warsaw. She studied BA Illustration & Animation at Kingston University and MA Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art.
Her favourite part of being an illustrator is bringing stories to life by designing charming characters and the wonderful worlds they live in. She shares her artist studio with her husband James and their pet plant Trevor.
