XPath with multiple conditions

Try:
//category[@name='Sport' and ./author/text()='James Small']

Use:

/category[@name='Sport' and author/text()[1]='James Small']

or use:

/category[@name='Sport' and author[starts-with(.,'James Small')]]

It is a good rule to try to avoid using the // pseudo-operator whenever possible, because its evaluation can typically be very slow.

Also:

./somename

is equivalent to:

somename

so it is recommended to use the latter.

question is not clear, but what i understand you need to select a catagory that has name attribute and should have child author with value specified , correct me if i am worng

here is a xpath

//category[@name='Required value'][./author[contains(.,'Required value')]]
e.g
//category[@name='Sport'][./author[contains(.,'James Small')]]