Our Supporters

Anderson Press, b small publishing, Barrington Stoke, Bloomsbury Children's Books, Bonnier, Chicken House, Child's Play, David Fickling Books, Double Rainbow Publishing, Farshore, Faber Children's, Firefly, Flying Eye (Nobrow), Guppy Books, Hachette Children's Group, Harper Collins Children's Books, HopeRoad, Knights Of, Lantana Publishing, Little Tiger, New Frontier Publishing, Nosy Crow, Old Barn Books, Otter-Barry, Oxford University Press, Pan Macmillan, Penguin Random House Children's, Quarto, Scallywag Press, Scholastic, The School of Life, Simon & Schuster, The Emma Press, Tiny Owl, UCLan Publishing, Usborne, Wacky Bee, Walker Books, Welbeck Publishing Group and Zephyr. 

A former primary school teacher and passionate advocate of children’s literacy and reading for pleasure, Fritha Lindqvist has been a communications professional in the children’s publishing industry for 16 years. 

She has worked with many talented authors and illustrators including Cressida Cowell, Sophie Anderson, Lauren Child, Nadiya Hussain, Dermot O’Leary, Hilary McKay, Mick Inkpen, James Mayhew and David Almond. Since 2017 Fritha has been a freelance children’s books consultant working with a variety of publishers. She proudly supports the work of not-for-profit organisation EmpathyLab.

After completing an MPhil in Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge in 2018, Amy is now working towards her PhD in English Literature at the University of Liverpool. Her thesis examines representations of female mental illness in contemporary British Young Adult fiction. 

Amy’s love for children’s literature and media extends beyond her studies; she has worked with children both as a party entertainer and as a preschool worker. Amy is particularly passionate about encouraging young people to empathise with those who suffer from mental illness through literature.

Mary is a therapeutic teacher and former primary teacher and children’s bookseller. She can mostly be found reading or writing fiction and poetry for children and young adults, and is a passionate believer in the power of stories to educate, empower and inspire. She has volunteered with EmpathyLab since January 2019, developing empathy-based teaching resources for primary and secondary schools.

Pippa has been working as an English and Drama teacher for over 20 years and has had the opportunity to work in both the state and independent sectors and from KS1-5. 

She came to the EmpathyLab training in February 2019 and felt that it was the single most important training she has attended. She is now a very vocal(!) advocate for mental health and wellbeing and would love to see empathy and kindness systematically taught throughout schools so that children have the tools to maintain good mental health through out their lives. She is thrilled to be able to volunteer for EmpathyLab.

Miranda and Caroline met on a train into London back in 2017. Caroline is a Chartered Forensic Accountant with over 20 years in the risk and insurance industry. As EmpathyLab continues to grow, she gives input to its financial strategy and gives Miranda and the team any other support she can.

Caroline leads the London office and investigative accounting practice in the UK and Europe for Meaden & Moore. She has developed and presented seminars on Forensic Accounting, natural catastrophe and supply chain related topics at conferences for a variety of organisations including, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the United Nations, RIMS, FERMA, and AIRMIC.

She mentors females and graduates in her own industry, and supports other organisations where she can. She chaired the Marsh Women’s Exchange, championing balance and diversity and offering support to females and others. She has received the Business Insurance “Women to Watch” award and was recognised by Insurance Times for Business Interruption Centre of Excellence training.

Jo is an award-winning writer, with novels for young people and teenagers spanning such issues as bullying, depression, neglect, body shaming and disability. 

Her acting and teaching backgrounds mean that her high-energy events in schools are incredibly popular, and over the past few years Jo has developed and delivered events for EmpathyLab at the Hay and Oxford Festivals among others. She loves working with children and is constantly trying to find ways to improve communication between people. Jo is a huge supporter of EmpathyLab and their vital work.

Fern spent many years working as a primary school teacher. She particularly enjoyed teaching poetry and exploring the use of high-quality picture books for older children. She also developed a strong interest in social and emotional learning in the classroom.

Fern’s first book, a mindfulness activity book, was published by HarperCollins in 2017. She writes educational resources for charities and publishers and is delighted to be volunteering for Empathy Lab helping to produce empathy-based resources for children. She loves the way that books provide a window into a different world and has witnessed firsthand just how powerful books and stories can be in helping children develop valuable life skills such as empathy.

Anne McNeil is a highly-experienced editor and publisher with almost forty-years’ industry experience. She specialises in strong author/illustrator care and project management, demonstrating an exceptional ability to build relationships based on trust. 

Her professional reputation is as someone who will use her natural pragmatism and gift for problem solving to achieve sound commercial results. She has built the global careers of many authors and illustrators. 

She worked for Hachette Children’s Group for 20 years and before that for Random House Children’s Books. She is now self-employed in London.

After graduating with a First-Class Honors degree in English and French from the University of Nottingham, Liz began her career at Penguin Children’s where she promoted brands such as Spot, Ladybird, Peppa Pig and Peter Rabbit. She then went on to work in the Adult Fiction department of HarperCollins (a highlight was meeting Cecelia Ahern and Bernard Cornwell!) before joining the Simon & Schuster Children’s team in 2014 where she won the BMS Award for ‘Campaign of the Season’ for her Dork Diaries: Drama Queen campaign and was part of the ‘Best Marketing Team’ at the same awards.

For the last four years, Liz has been working as a Freelance Children’s Books Marketer & Publicist and is known for her willingness to go above and beyond for her authors and publishing clients. When she’s not working on campaigns or looking after her two young daughters, Liz can be found writing her own picture book stories in rhyme (which she hopes one day may get published!) and inspiring a love of literacy at her local primary school where she works part-time. Liz is delighted to be a part of Team EmpathyLab and is a strong advocate for using empathy-rich books in the classroom.

In 2019, Sarah won the FAB Prize for Illustration, a competition hosted by Faber. Sarah's debut picture book, Blue was published by Faber in January 2023. Working with a mix of hand drawing and digital editing, Sarah aims to express emotion through the body language and facial expressions of her characters. After going through a challenging childhood, Sarah has taken a particular interest in children's mental health in her work. She believes in the power of storytelling for healing, building empathy or for simply enjoying a moment with a book. She is in the final year of an MA in Children's Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. 

Before becoming an author/illustrator, Sarah worked in marketing and publishing. She has two CACHE Level 2 qualifications in children's mental health for early years and for older children/young people. Sarah is delighted to be supporting EmpathyLab as a volunteer.