Martin Waddell

Martin Waddell
Born (1941-04-10) 10 April 1941
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Pen nameCatherine Sefton
OccupationWriter
Genre
  • Children's literature
  • As Sefton: detective stories, mystery fiction, ghost stories
Notable works
  • As Waddell:
  • Big Bear, Little Bear
Notable awardsHans Christian Andersen Award for Writing
2004

Martin Waddell (born 10 April 1941) is a writer of children's books from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He may be known best for his picture book texts featuring anthropomorphic animals, especially the Little Bear series illustrated by Barbara Firth (not to be confused with Minarik & Sendak's Little Bear series).

He also writes under the pen name Catherine Sefton for older children, primarily ghost stories and mystery fiction. The work by Sefton most widely held in WorldCat libraries is the novel In a Blue Velvet Dress (1972).

For his "lasting contribution" as a children's writer Waddell received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2004.