Author SF Said was born in Lebanon, but has lived in London since he was two years old. His latest novel, Tyger, won the British Book Award for Children's Fiction Book of the Year 2023. It was also named Foyles's 2022 Children's Book of the Year.

A fantastical novel written from the perspective of a Muslim boy, Tyger is set in a London where the British Empire still rules, and engages directly with SF's Middle Eastern heritage.

SF wrote his first novel Varjak Paw while working as a speechwriter for the Crown Prince of Jordan, and then as a film journalist.

Varjak Paw won the 2003 Smarties Prize for Children's Literature. Translated into fourteen languages, Varjak became a play, a musical, and even an opera. The sequel, The Outlaw Varjak Paw, won the Blue Peter Book Award in 2007. Both books are beloved in classrooms across the UK.

Phoenix, SF's next book, was the UK's IBBY Honour Book for 2014-16. It was nominated for both the Carnegie and Greenaway Medals, and shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award.

Both Varjak and Phoenix have been optioned for screen dramatisation.

SF Said's much anticipated fourth book, Tyger, has been described as a 'masterpiece' by Frank Cotterill Boyce, and named Foyles Children's Book of the Year 2022. Published by David Fickling Books, Tyger is set in an alternate world, in an oppressed London where the British Empire never ended.

All four novels are illustrated by illustrator, concept artist and film director Dave McKean, in an enduring creative partnership.

SF Said's represented by James Catchpole at The Catchpole Agency.

For more about SF and his books, you can find him on twitter, instagram, and on his blog.