PVLF 2025

A five-year-old British girl has become the youngest female author in history

on Jun 17, 2022

Bella J Dark of Weymouth, UK, has become the world's youngest author at the age of 5 years and 211 days (female).

Bella's book, The Lost Cat, relates the story of Snowy, a cat who gets lost after going outside alone at night.

Ginger Fyre Press released The Lost Cat on January 31, 2022, and it has now sold over 1,000 copies. It costs £6 ($7.27) at Waterstones and Amazon.

Dorothy Straight (b. 25 May 1958) held the previous record when her book How the World Began was published by Pantheon Books in August 1964, when she was six years old.

Bella said that the inspiration for The Lost Cat came from one of her drawings.

"It began as a photograph. My father suggested I write a book, and the picture inspired a story."

Bella has always had a vivid imagination, according to her mother, 27-year-old Chelsie Syme, and has been writing short stories "since she was three."

As a result, Bella's announcement that she was planning to write a book came as no surprise.

Bella wrote the entire story in "approximately five days." She also did her own illustrations for the book (with the exception of one picture at the end drawn by older sister Lacie May).

Bella believes that her novel will "educate children not to go outside alone at night."

The book must be published by a commercial publishing house and at least 1,000 copies must be printed and sold in order to be eligible for this Guinness World Records title.

Chelsie supported Bella with chores such as "dealing with proof copies and things being modified" after meeting an interested publisher at a book fair.

“I was happy for her and I just love getting involved and giving attention and praise to everything she does,” Chelsie said.

The mother-daughter duo's hard work was eventually rewarded when they saw the sales figures and Bella was officially confirmed as the world's youngest published author.

Some of Bella's favourite novels include What the Ladybird Heard, Splat the Cat, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Just as these books affected Bella, she hopes that The Lost Cat will inspire other young writers.

"Write a tale that comes from you," she advises wannabe novelists.

We can't wait to read Bella's next book, especially since a sequel to Snowy's story is already in the works!

Thanuwana Serasinghe (Sri Lanka) is the youngest person to publish a book (male), having been 4 years 356 days old when his book Junk Food was released on January 5, 2017.