Smriti Halls is an award-winning, critically acclaimed children’s author. Since publication of her first picture book in 2012, she has had a U.S. number 1 bestseller and been published in more than 30 languages, from Arabic to Afrikaans and from Catalan to Korean.
With a cast of characters as varied as mischievous monsters and disgruntled geese, she explores relationship and identity; the personal and the political; how it feels to be in your own skin — and in someone else’s. Her books, often fast-paced and funny or lyrical and tender, are always full of hope and heart and speak to the child in all of us.
Several of her books have been nominated and shortlisted for national awards. The Little Island (illustrated by Robert Starling) is currently shortlisted for the 2020 Teach Primary Awards and the 2020 Little Rebels Award.
Smriti works extensively with the Bedtime Stories Prison Project, helping parents in prison stay connected with their children at home through stories. She has been interviewed about this work by BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and The Guardian.
Smriti has been a judge for several awards and prizes, including the Stratford Salariya Prize, Faber's FAB Award and the Booktrust Lifetime Achievement Award. She is currently BookTrust’s Writer in Residence.
South Indian by birth, British by nationality and London-loving by heart, Smriti lives near Richmond Park with her husband and their three sons, reading, writing and eating iced buns.
'Smriti'
The name Smriti comes from the ancient language, Sanskrit, and means remembrance - or memory.
It's a name that often presents a challenge to people she meets (particularly grown-ups). As there are several consonants together, it can look a bit worrying at first sight... so she has been called everything from Samantha to Serendipity! However, it's actually easy to say. It's pronounced exactly as it's spelt and, if in doubt, remember that Smriti rhymes with Pretty and Witty and you won't go wrong!!
From 2020, she will be published in the UK as Smriti Halls for fiction. For non-fiction and for all books in the U.S., she will continue to be published as Smriti Prasadam-Halls.