Edinburgh schoolgirl pens 'Christmas classic' novel at 6-years-old

A new book written by an Edinburgh school girl when she was just six-years-old has been touted as a ‘Christmas classic’.

Santa Steals Christmas! was written by Eve Nairn-Magnante, thought to be Scotland’s youngest published author, in a bid to change the way books are published making them more accessible to all children.

Now 14, the teenager produced the book in partnership with leading charities to ensure the design and format are accessible to children and families with neurodiverse conditions including dyslexia and autism.

The book tells the story of Santa and his band of helpers seeking to unmask an imposter who has stolen the world’s Christmas presents.

Eve, who is autistic, worked very closely with illustrator Nicholas Child to help visualise the story, including characters of different abilities.

She started writing the story with her father, Mark, when she was six.

He typed it up to turn the original story into a book as a Christmas present for Eve. But the project grew as Eve developed her writing at school and eventually the pair decided to try and use her magical story to tackle exclusion in publishing.

Eve, who is now in High School said:

“I think anyone should be able to access things that other people can access, and I find it unfair that books are written in the UK in a way that other people can’t read.

“Books are important for imagination and creativity, and no one should miss out on that. I particularly enjoyed working with Nicholas Child on the illustrations and helping him make the world I imagined come to life on the page.”

Eve added that she has her sights set on becoming an actor – but intends to keep writing on the side.

She said: “I feel like writing is one of the only things I am good at. I have had hobbies, but I haven’t stuck with them. For me, writing is more of a hobby. I think I might write books, but I really want to be an actor.”

It has been supported and developed in partnership with charities including Dyslexia Scotland, Scottish Autism, Deaf Action and Fife-based sight loss charity Seescape. The book is available as a dyslexia-friendly paperback edition, an enhanced audio description, a British Sign Language version and four different types of Braille.

Free copies are also being sent to schools and libraries, charities and hospitals, and a portion of the book’s sale will be donated to each of the charities which helped develop it.

Eve’s father, Mark, said:“We are publishing a story we feel is truly for everyone. Eve imagined a world in which all children would feel seen and included and our aim was to ensure the story was available in multiple formats for everyone to access and enjoy.“Our greatest wish is that this will serve as a benchmark to set a new standard for how all children's books should be published for years to come.

“I’m really grateful to Eve’s Primary 7 teacher at school who helped nurture Eve’s writing talent and let me know about the stories she was writing at school. It inspired us to try to bring Santa Steals Christmas! to children everywhere.”