Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson is a British children's writer, poet and playwright, born in London in 1948. She studied drama and French at the University of Bristol and spent years writing songs for BBC children's television before one of them, “A Squash and a Squeeze”, became her first picture book in 1993, illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Their partnership produced “The Gruffalo” (1999), “Room on the Broom” (2001), “The Snail and the Whale” (2003), “Stick Man” (2008) and “Superworm” (2012), among many others. She also writes plays, songs and books for beginner readers, and served as Children's Laureate from 2011 to 2013. She was appointed MBE in 2011 and CBE in 2019.