SF Said's first book, Varjak Paw, won the Nestlé Smarties Prize for Children's Literature, and was listed by BookTrust as one of the 100 best children's books of the past 100 years. The sequel, The Outlaw Varjak Paw, won the BBC Blue Peter Book Of The Year. His third book, Phoenix, represented the UK on the IBBY International Honour Book List, was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Award, and nominated for the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals. Like Tyger, all three books were illustrated by Dave McKean and published by David Fickling Books.

SF Said has also written about children's literature for both the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society Of Literature, and has given talks at the British Library and on BBC Radio 4, as well as campaigning for literacy, libraries and reading for pleasure.