About

Born and brought up in Kent, Carnegie Medal winning Tanya Landman is the author of more than forty books for children and young adults.

Tanya had no intention of becoming a writer until the idea for Waking Merlin popped into her head. “It came from nowhere, completely out of the blue.”

Tanya now lives and works in North Devon where the dramatic coastline inspired both her Flotsam & Jetsam series and the historical thriller Hell and High Water.

Tanya’s first books were “adventure stories with a sprinkling of magic and spoonful of humour.” But then Tanya turned to crime, writing Mondays are Murder (winner of a Red House Book Award) the first in a series of ten “Agatha-Christies-for-kids.”

Although she writes across a broad age range, Tanya is probably best known for her historical thrillers for young adults. Apache was shortlisted for several UK awards.  Buffalo Soldier won the 2015 Carnegie Medal. Hell and High Water was shortlisted for the 2016 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and nominated for the Carnegie Medal. Her recent book One Shot, inspired by the early life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley, won the Scottish Teenage Book Prize 2020.