Golden Egg Academy

Mother Goose welcomes you to the nest...

Courses for writers of children’s fiction, run by award-winning editor Imogen Cooper and her team of experienced editors and industry professionals

Supporting diverse writers through the Quarto Translations/Golden Egg Academy Diversity Award

Courses for writers of picture books, run by Barefoot Books
co-founder Tessa Strickland and experienced industry editor, Josephine Collins

“Golden Egg really helps crack open the potential in promising writing for children. The sessions stimulate, challenge and help craft ideas using techniques that really make a difference.”
Barry Cunningham OBE, Publisher and MD, The Chicken House
“The GEA gave me the objective editorial feedback I needed to turn Beetle Boy into a publishable book.”
M.G. Leonard, author of Beetle Boy
“Golden Egg Academy offers editorial sessions from some of the best in the business and it does much more than that as well: it provides a unique environment in which authors can feel nurtured, inspired and supported.”
Kate Shaw, Literary Agent, The Shaw Agency
“Golden Egg was one of the best experiences of my life ... I'd do it all over again if I could.”
James Nicol, author of The Apprentice Witch
“The world of children's books can only benefit from GEA's imaginative approach to writing for this important readership.”
Lindsey Fraser & Kathryn Ross, Literary Agents, Fraser Ross Associates
“The Golden Egg Academy ensures that you receive the support and encouragement every writer needs.”
Damaris Young, author of The Switching Hour
“Encouraging, nurturing, teaching, mentoring and gently teasing out a writer's true potential, the truly inspiring, extremely able and highly approachable minds behind The GEA combine to provide genuine results.”
Ben Illis, Literary Agent, The BIA
“I'm so grateful to GEA for seeing my potential ... I truly believe I couldn't have done it without them.”
Lisa Williamson, author of The Art of Being Normal
“Your set-up is brilliant and original.”
David Fickling, Publisher, David Fickling Books
“Golden Egg offers high quality courses and a supportive on and offline community.”
Anna Mainwaring, author of Rebel with a Cupcake
“[Golden Egg's] industry knowledge is second to none and their courses are really excellent.”
Kate Wiseman, author of Gangster School
“[Golden Egg is] a fantastic way of improving your craft, connecting with other writers at the same stage and learning about the industry.”
Liz Flanagan, author of Eden Summer
“Golden Egg enabled me to truly understand the art of structure and to move my writing up the level needed for agents and publishers to take interest.”
Lorraine Gregory, author of Mold and the Poison Plot
“It was super useful to work with the GEA and have an editor's input.”
Lucy Van Smit, author of The Hurting
“No matter where my stories take me, I'll always be an Egg.”
M.G. Leonard, author of Beetle Boy
“GEA helped me to discover what was good and unique about my writing.”
Nicki Thornton, author of The Last Chance Hotel
“Honor and I are proud to be early Eggs! We worked with GEA on the first Waiting for Callback, getting oodles of kindly help and encouragement... Once an Egg always an Egg, it's a fantastically warm and constructive community.”
Perdita and Honor Cargill, authors of Waiting for Callback
“GEA is a warm, supportive and energising community at every level.”
Rowena House, author of The Goose Road
“GEA gives you the chance to become the best writer you can possibly be.”
Vanessa Harbour, author of Flight
“We've long admired GEA's wrap-around support for its writers and the enthusiam and breadth of knowledge it shares throughout its courses.”
Lindsey Fraser and Kathryn Ross, Literary Agents, Fraser Ross Associates

Coronavirus Update:

Dear Eggs and Egg-curious, as a collective of freelance editors, we are lucky to be able to continue working remotely through this period of self-isolation. As such, Golden Egg’s services will remain largely unaffected. However, the safety of our writers is of paramount importance to us so, in the interim, our workshops and one2ones will be hosted online until restrictions on group gatherings are lifted. Stay safe, everyone! The Golden Egg Team.

A foot in the door

Golden Egg offers courses including editorial support, workshops, online classes and manuscript reports from experienced children’s publishing professionals, together with the chance to join a community of writers and network with industry contacts.

We work closely with Barry Cunningham, Publisher and Managing Director of The Chicken House, Klaus Flugge, Founder of Andersen Press and agent Tessa David, Peters, Fraser and Dunlop.

Through our well connected and highly experienced editors, we also have strong links with a number of other publishing houses including Scholastic, Barefoot Books, David Fickling Books, Firefly Press, Little Tiger Press, Simon & Schuster, Nosy Crow and Hot Key Books.

We have close relationships with numerous literary agents including Kate Shaw of The Shaw Agency, Amber Caraveo and Joanna Moult of Skylark Literary, Kirsty McLachlan from David Godwin Associates, Ben Illis of the Ben Illis Agency and Jenny Savill from Andrew Nurnberg Associates.

The Golden Egg Award

At Golden Egg we pride ourselves on our ethical approach to business and to publishing. Our aim always is to encourage diversity in books and publishing in general. Previously the Quarto Translations/Golden Egg Academy Diversity Award, The Golden Egg Award is aimed at encouraging diverse writers and diverse stories, as well as providing opportunities for writers who would not normally be able to benefit from the expertise at GEA. The award will be for writers of talent whose work is likely to reach publishable standard, for the ultimate aim is to enable children to see themselves in the literature they are reading and meet published writers that they might wish to emulate.

The Golden Egg Academy Award, with its offer of a writer development course and a First Look deal with Chicken House, is a prime example of an opportunity that gives aspiring writers of colour of children’s fiction a supported path to publication.

Heather Marks, Award Winner

Click here to learn more about the award