Who is Julia Donaldson?

Julia Donaldson was Children's Laureate from 2011-2013. She was born in 1948. She grew up in London and studied Drama and French at Bristol University. She worked for a few years in publishing and as a teacher, while also writing and performing songs and street theatre with her husband Malcolm, and writing and directing two musicals for children. She then combined a career writing songs for children’s television with bringing up a family.

In 1993, one of her songs was made into a book, A Squash and a Squeeze. Since then she has written over a hundred books and plays for children and teenagers, including the award-winning rhyming stories The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale and Zog, all illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which are among the UK’s best-selling picture books.

She lives in Bearsden, Glasgow, with her husband Malcolm and two cats.

[FROM: http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/previous-laureates/julia-donaldson/]

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