Walker Books mourns the passing of beloved children’s author, Dick King-Smith.
He wrote stories that burst with memorable characters – from small but very determined Sophie, to the twin giants, Lottavim and Normus, from Aristotle, a white witch’s cat, to Lollipop the very intelligent pig.
Dick’s books on the Walker list are rarely out of print – and the Sophie stories alone have sold over 1.5 million copies around the world. Paired with the cream of our illustrators - Anita Jeram (All Pigs Are Beautiful), Bob Graham (Aristotle), David Parkins (the Sophie books) and Mini Grey (Twin Giants) – he created warm humorous books that never ever talk down to the reader.
About working with Dick, his longstanding editor, Lucy Ingrams says, “Dick had an exceptional storytelling gift. He wrote brilliantly for children as young as four and as old as ten, but he excelled at writing for the children in between – six and seven and eight year-olds. Whenever you meet Dick on the page, you always have the same feelings – of being in the emotionally wise, relaxed and entertaining company of a master. Not so different to how you felt when you met him in person - preferably at his local pub (his favourite place for a work meeting). He was quite simply the best of the best.”