Beth O'Brien's debut Wolf Siren wins the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Writing
Beth O'Brien's first novel, Wolf Siren, a reworking of Red Riding Hood, has won both the Carnegie Medal for Writing and the Shadowers' Choice Medal.
Beth O'Brien has won the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Writing for Wolf Siren, her first novel, published by HarperCollins Children's Books. The winners were announced on 23 June 2026. The book also won the Shadowers' Choice Medal for Writing, chosen by young readers in reading groups.
Wolf Siren reimagines Little Red Riding Hood around a disabled protagonist drawn to the forbidden woods where her grandmother disappeared. The organisers noted that this year's winners give prominence to neurodiversity and vision impairment.
The Carnegie Medal for Illustration went to Kate Rolfe for Wiggling Words (Two Hoots), and the Shadowers' Choice Medal for Illustration to Aimée de Jongh's graphic novel adaptation of William Golding's Lord of the Flies (Faber). Each medal winner receives the £5,000 Colin Mears Award.
Why it matters: a debut taking both the judges' medal and the young readers' vote suggests the book works for its intended audience as well as for the librarians who judge it. The result also reflects the growing attention publishers and prize panels are giving to disabled characters written from lived experience.