Ann Pilling
Ann Pilling (born 17 October 1944) is an English author and poet best known for young adult fiction. She has also written horror fiction under the pen name Ann Cheetham. For "Henry's Leg", published by Viking Kestrel in 1985, she won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers. Pilling was born in Warrington, Lancashire, and grew up in a house "groaning with books". She started writing at eight and she was going to church alone at twelve. She read English at  King's College London and wrote a Master's thesis on C. S. Lewis. Works. Horror stories. The first four books (Dark Powers series) were originally published as by Ann Cheetham. Awards. Her 1988 children's books "On the Lion's Side" and "Stan" both made the shortlist for the annual Carnegie Medal.