Philip Pullman raises £30,000 for Grenfell Tower in character name auction

A fundraising auction supported by authors including Margaret Atwood, Jacqueline Wilson and Philip Pullman has raised more than £150,000 to support residents affected by the Grenfell Tower fire. Pullman, who offered to name a character in the second instalment of his new series The Book of Dust, raised £32,400 after teacher James Clements suggested the character should be named in memory of his former pupil Nur Huda el-Wahabi, who died in the tragedy. Bidding crashed through the £30,000 barrier aided by hundreds of micro-bids for £10 and £20 from members of the public, as well as authors including Derek Landy, who contributed £5,000. Patrick Ness raised his contribution to £3,000 after a US reader tried to outbid the collective support to commemorate Nur Huda.