Patrick Ness's refugee appeal tops £500,000

Philip Pullman, Marian Keyes and Anthony Horowitz are the latest authors to join the fundraising drive as 5,000 donors pledge cash

The award-winning young adult author Patrick Ness’s fundraiser for Syrian refugees topped half a million pounds this morning, after writers including Philip Pullman, Marian Keyes and Anthony Horowitz joined the cause over the weekend.

Ness, who won Carnegie medal twice in 2011 and 2012, began fundraising for Save the Children on Thursday morning, saying he was “tired of just tweeting my despair about the current refugee crisis that the UK government is responding to with inhumane feebleness”. He promised to match funds raised by the public up to £10,000 – a target that was reached in under two hours, with fellow authors John Green, Derek Landy and Jojo Moyes each then pledging to donate £10,000 of their own, matching public donations.

We crossed £425k, which means @PhilipPullman is on the clock! Cross £435k & he donates £10k. C'mon, give him a reason to get book four out!

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