Sylvia Waugh was born in Gateshead, Tyne & Wear in Northern England in 1935. She attended Gateshead Grammar School. Having worked full-time as a grammar teacher for seventeen years, Waugh began her writing career in her late forties. In 1993, she published her first book, The Mennyms, that eventually evolved into an entire series, which appeared in seventeen languages. The Ormingat books received very good critical reviews and have been published in Japanese (all three books) and Spanish (Space Race).

• 1994 The Mennyms won the Guardian Award

Prizes and Awards won by the Mennyms1. The Guardian Prize2. Short-listed for the Carnegie Medal (The Mennyms)3. Birmingham Readers & Writers Children's Book Award - the first winner of a new prize, selected by schoolchildren4 For the Dutch 'Mennyms': the Silver Kiss (CPNB)5. For the Dutch 'Mennyms under Siege' an official commendation (CPNB)6. Certificate from the American 'Hungry Mind Review' naming 'The Mennyms' as one of its 'Children's Books of Distinction'7. American 'Parenting' magazine 'Reading Magic Awards' - one of the top ten children's books in the USA in 1994. The Parenting Magazine also selected 'The Mennyms' as one of the ten books for the past decade that 'best withstand the test of time'.8. The whole series of 'The Mennyms' was awarded the Kinderbuchpreis 2000 in Vienna