A children's illustrator has been shortlisted alongside the likes of Philip Pullman for a major prize with her debut book.

Emily Gravett, 33, of Hollingbury, wrote and illustrated Wolves in six weeks as part of her degree course at the University of Brighton.

It won her a three-book deal with publishers MacMillan and has been nominated for the Nestle Children's Book Prize.

The picture book tells the tale of a rabbit who borrows a book about wolves from the library and finds characters leap off the page and chase him.

Emily faces stiff competition from Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers and The Dancing Tiger, written by Malachy Doyle and illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, in the section for readers aged five and under.

Well-known authors including one of last year's winners, Chris Riddell, also from Brighton, and Philip Pullman have been nominated in other categories.

Over the coming months thousands of schoolchildren will study the nine books nominated in three different age categories and decide who will split the £13,500 prize money. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on December 14.

For Emily the nomination is just one more unbelievable step in her path to success.

She said: "It has been like a fairy story. I was expecting to come out and have to trawl around lots of publishers for years and eventually think I ought to do something else. Now I can spend every day working on my books. The nomination is so exciting because it's a big thing and I was not expecting it at all. It is all quite unreal."

Emily grew up in Kemp Town and left school aged 16 with only a handful of GCSEs.