Prize-winning Scottish children's author Cathy MacPhail died August 28. She was 75. The Bookseller reported that "her father died when she was two, leaving the child and her three sisters to be raised by their mother. MacPhail had to leave school at 15 to work in a mill."
Her son and fellow author David MacPhail and her literary agent Caroline Sheldon said: "Despite these early difficulties, Cathy joined a local writer's group, and later got to live her dream of becoming an author and comedy writer. Her BBC Radio 2 sitcom My Mammy and Me ran from 1993 to 1995. In 1994 she published her first children's book, Run Zan Run... inspired by her daughter Katie's experience with bullying. The book went on to win the Kathleen Fidler award and the Vergheretto in Italy."
They also noted that "her trademark as a writer was to produce gritty and topical novels on important subjects that were totally accessible to her readers. She was a brilliant sharer of her work with children, indefatigably giving talks in schools and libraries."
MacPhail's honors include the Scottish Children's Book Award, which she won three times, the Stockport Book Award, the Red Book Award and the Grampian Book Award. A film based on her novel Another Me was released in 2015, featuring Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner.