Children’s Literature News January 2026
Children’s book news for January 2026: festivals, awards, school publishing, comics events, national reading policy, literacy campaigns and major competitions shaping children’s and YA books across the UK.
Zak Simmons-Hurn author page
Zak Simmonds-Hurn biography
Zak Simmonds-Hurn is a comics artist and illustrator who works on children’s comics and graphic novels. He studied Sequential Illustration at Swindon College and graduated in 2006.
He is a staff artist at The Phoenix comic. His published serials for The Phoenix include Know Your Monsters and Dragon Guard. He has also drawn Legacy and provided artwork for the series Simon Swift.
Earlier in his comics career, Simmonds-Hurn created Sky Drifters for The Phoenix and drew “The Strange, Strange World of Weird” for The DFC, written by Robin Etherington. Festival programme listings also credit him as the illustrator of Ember, the Phoenix Fest mascot.
Legacy: The Shadow Rises (a Phoenix Comic book) is scheduled for publication by David Fickling Books (DFB Phoenix) in 2026 (ISBN 9781788451987).
Bestselling books by Zak Simmons-Hurn
Browse Zak Simmons-Hurn books on UK.Bookshop.orgBrowse Zak Simmons-Hurn books on Waterstones.com
Browse Zak Simmons-Hurn books on Blackwells.co.uk
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