Patrice Lawrence

Patrice was born in Brighton, England, raised in an Italian-Trinidadian family in mid-Sussex, and now lives on the South Coast. Her debut YA novel, Orangeboy, won the Bookseller YA Prize and the Waterstones Prize for Older Children’s Fiction and was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award. Her subsequent novels have been much acclaimed and frequent visitors to prize lists. Eight Pieces of Silva, published by Hodder in August 2020, won the Jhalak Children’s and Young Adult Prize 2021. Patrice has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal six times. Patrice was also awarded an MBE for services to literature in the Queen’s birthday honours 2021.