A 14-year-old girl from Ormskirk, Lancashire has won the Beyond The Stars writing competition, and now her short story Discovering Bravery will be the 12th story in the book Beyond the Stars illustrated by Niamh Sharkey, and will be read along with 11 original stories from Ireland's greatest children's writers including Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle and John Boyne.
The Beyond The Stars writing competition launched in April 2014 and children were asked to write a wintery story and magic and wonder.
Emma, who fought off stiff competition to win the place in the book, said: "I have wanted to be a writer ever since I was young. I always dreamed of getting one of my stories published in a book for people to read and (hopefully) enjoy. So when this competition was brought to my attention, I couldn't resist. I had to give it a go! I never once believed I would win though and when I received the news one evening after school, I was absolutely delighted to say the least! I have always loved fantasy books and wolves have been some of my favourite animals since reading Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, so I think Ruka's story came from there. I hope people love reading it just as much as I loved writing it."
All the money raised from sales of the book will go to Fighting Words, a writing charity established by Roddy Doyle and Sean Love to offer free story-telling and creative writing workshops for children and adults.
• Beyond the Stars, Twelve Tales of Adventure, Magic and Wonder, compiled by Sarah Webb can be pre-ordered from the Guardian bookshop and is available from 9 October 2014.
