Rashmi Sirdeshpande

Rashmi Sirdeshpande is an award-winning neurodivergent children's author who loves taking big ideas and making them accessible and exciting for young readers. She writes a mix of picture books, poetry, fiction and illustrated non-fiction. An official World Book Day author for 2022 and a former Writer-in-Residence at UK children's literacy charity BookTrust, her books have been published around the world and featured in a number of national and international newspapers. She is also a passionate advocate of reading for pleasure and diverse representation in children's publishing.

Her picture book This is Who I Am, illustrated by Ruchi Mhasane, was in The Guardian's picks of the best children's books of 2025 has been shortlisted for Peters Children's Book of the Year 2026. Her first picture book, Never Show a T-Rex a Book, illustrated by Diane Ewen, won the 2021 Society of Authors Queen’s Knickers Award and the Anna Dewdney Read-Together Award in the USA and was shortlisted for the Lollies 2022. Her non-fiction book, Good News, illustrated by Adam Hayes, was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Awards in the Best Book with Facts category and her latest nonfiction, Amazing Asia, illustrated by Jason Lyon, was shortlisted for the Stanford Travel Children’s Book of the Year and won Children's Choice at the School Librarian Association's 2025 Information Book Awards.