Tributes have been paid to Oxford author Siobhan Dowd, whose last published novel is now in the book shops.

Ms Dowd, 47, who lived in West Oxford, died at Sobell House hospice in Headington, in August, 2007.

Shortly before she died, she set up a foundation to ensure that royalties from her books would help disadvantaged young people to read.

Solace of the Road was the penultimate novel written by Ms Dowd, but she asked for it to be published after her final novel Bog Child, which came out in February last year.

The Oxford University graduate was gaining a reputation as one of the most promising children’s writers of her generation.

Oxford publisher David Fickling, who published all of Ms Dowd’s novels, said: “I knew Siobhan was ill, but she was so warm and funny that I didn’t think about it.Young people can get an awful lot out of her books because they are intensely readable and contain a light humour, which make them very uplifting. In some ways Siobhan sacrificed her own brimming talent for the benefit of other authors.

"And then, just as she discovered she was fatally ill, she put pen to paper and produced four of the most remarkable novels for children you could wish for.

“It is utterly characteristic that Siobhan should, at the end, put her mind unerringly to the most deserving group of all — the young reader.”

Ms Dowd’s novels won numerous awards.

Jonathan Heawood, director of the writers’ association English Pen, said: “Siobhan Dowd believed passionately in the power of writing to change people's lives. She brought this passion to her work over many years. It's inspiring and moving to see her work continuing even now.”