Dream comes true for Edinburgh author after scooping top US children's book award
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Colinton author Peter Burns wins prestigious US literary prize for debut novel
A children's author from Edinburgh has described winning one of America’s major literary awards for children's books as a “dream come true”.
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Peter Burns, 44, from Colinton, won the Barnes and Noble Children’s Book Award for his debut children’s novel Shadow Thieves, which is called School of Thieves in the United States.
Peter is only the second Scottish author to win the overall award, following in the footsteps of Beth Lincoln who won in 2023 with her debut The Swifts.
Shadow Thieves, which came out last year, is the first in a series featuring an elite boarding school for thieves. Filled with “drama, action and dazzling acts of deception”, it's perfect for fans of Skandar and Percy Jackson.
The book went on to be a New York Times bestseller and an Amazon top 10 book for 2025, with rave reviews from the broadsheets and celebrity authors alike.
The former sports editor, who has also published 11 non-fiction sports books, attended the awards ceremony in New York on May 20 with his wife, who is also his agent.
He said: “It’s absolute dream come true stuff. I got the email a couple of months ago about the nomination, which blew my mind.
“The book has done so well in America, it’s just incredible, lucky, but amazing. It’s what I dreamed of when I was little and wanted to be an author. So yeah, it’s a dream come true.
“My wife and I went to the awards ceremony not expecting to win at all. I didn’t even write a speech. It was just an excuse to go to New York for a few days.
“So when my name was called out I had to make an impromptu speech and tried to remember everyone’s name to thank. It was such a shock to win.
“I hadn’t been to New York since I was five, and I remember being in the toy shop in the film Big. So it was a very pleasant surprise to be going back there.
“It was very special just being there as a nominee, so to be the winner was incredible. There were only three other nominees in our category, with one of them also from Edinburgh, Struan Murray, which was quite something, but unfortunately he couldn’t make it.”
This big award win comes just days before the release of the second book in the series on Thursday, June 4, Shadow Thieves - Island of Skulls.
Peter said: “It’s amazing to have this follow-up coming out just after winning such a prestigious award. I have got the launch today (Wednesday, June 3), on a ship called The Golden Hinde, a Francis Drake boat in London.
“It ties in very well with what happens in this new book. So I’m very excited about that, it should be a great event.
“The reviews have been great already, and it was very fun to write this book. It draws on the books and movies I loved as a kid like Indiana Jones and The Goonies.
“It’s so much fun, and I just hope readers really enjoy it when they get their hands on it from Thursday.
“The first book has done well all over the world, Australia, Malaysia and the UK in particular, as well as the US of course. We’ve sold the rights for it to be published in Portugal and Romania now as well.
“So we hope the follow-up is as successful everywhere also.
“I would love to turn this series of books into a film or TV show. Picking up this award and the second book being released will hopefully get the series back on the best sellers list, which would really help that come true.”
Despite his previous non-fiction success, Peter always wanted to write books for children, so having Shadow Thieves published across the globe to such success has been what he was always hoping to achieve in his writing career.
He said: “I have written 11 sports books, but I kind of did that by accident. It was never my intention to be a sports editor. I always wanted to be a children’s author.
“I wrote a children’s book when I was at university, which I thought was great, but it wasn’t, and it never got anywhere.
“I worked at Birlinn Books for 13 years and then I became a sports editor at Polaris Publishing. After that I helped a sports author finish a rugby book and that became my career for a long time. I’m still writing the odd sports book.
“It was always the dream to be a children’s author so I kept picking away at it on the side. It was my lifelong ambition to do this, but it wasn’t an overnight success story at all.
“So it was great to finally write a children’s book, but it’s weird to have it out there in the world doing so incredibly well, none of it feels real.”
Shadow Thieves: Island of Skulls, by Peter Burns, is released on Thursday, June 4, available in paperback for £7.99. You can pre-order that and purchase the first book in the series here.