Find Out More About Me

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My picture books deal with feelings, separation anxiety, mischievousness and death amongst other things. Whatever the subject it is always done in a positive way, to help the reader through, and usually has an element of fun.

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Storymaker

The one unifying factor in everything I do is the empowerment of hero or heroine, especially those who are different from their peers.

My award winning YA book “Read My Lips” about a deaf girl who wants to learn to speak, is a case in point.

My first Middle Grade book in the U.S. “It’s a Terrible Age to Be” sold over 100,000 copies and clearly spoke to kids who feel disenfranchised and the book I am working on right now has an element of magic and mystery I believe kids love.

I am at the Childsplay stand in Bologna, where my latest books are on display

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I was born in a raging blizzard in Czechoslovakia, when my mum slipped on the icy streets. I was six weeks premature, and so tiny they put me in a size five shoe box to weigh me (I was only two kilos!). Nowadays I cannot fit my foot into a such a shoebox.

I grew up writing and drawing on any scraps of paper I could find. Now I write and draw all the time, on lovely paper and sometimes even the computer. It’s the best thing in the world.

I believe the best books stem from collaboration between editor and writer and it is a pity that the constraints in todays publishing can rule out this initial meeting.

When two creative heads are put together, the combustion can lead to a powerful and unexpected journey, since it is only by honing ideas that the best result can take place.

Here I am in Waterstones for a book signing. I love to meet my customers and talk about my books

My passion for children’s books encompasses such a wide field – from picture books to YA – writing to editing or lecturing - that any area can be my current focus. Today I am working on the final edit of my latest picture book, and later it is back to writing my YA book about arrested development in teenage girls. (Other picture book ideas are bubbling around in the back of my mind, and I am always drawing.)

Within any age group I like to dip into different genres – wacky comic books, pensive narratives or bold novelty books.

View All Books

In this black and white photo you can see me looking Czech with my plaits wound round my head.

My sister and I were terrified of the old man with the dirty beard, who was in fact a kindly old Santa Claus.