Helen Cooper

Helen Cooper is a British children's author and illustrator whose work includes classic titles such as 'The Bear Under the Stairs', the 'Pumpkin Soup' trilogy of books, 'The Baby Who Wouldn't Go to Bed', 'Tatty-Ratty', 'Saving the Butterfly' (illustrated by Gill Smith) and 'The Taming of the Cat' which is published in October 2023. Her books have been translated into over 25 languages and won many awards including the Smarties Prize children's choice and the Library Association Kate Greenaway Medal - twice. She was born in 1963 and grew up in the far North of England in a very rural area where milk came from the farm in a can, bears lived under the stairs, and it rained a great deal. There was no wifi, and the TV was tiny, with only two channels, and even those only worked when the clouds were the right shape. Ofcourse this meant there was more time to read and write and draw and play the piano. After qualifying to teach the piano, she wrote and illustrated her first picture book in 1987. Since then she has written and illustrated a whole lot more including the bestselling 'Pumpkin Soup' ,which is 25 years old this year, and also the others in the series which are 'A Pipkin of Pepper', and 'Delicious'. Her newest Picture Book: 'Saving the Butterfly' is written by Helen and illustrated by Gill Smith. Recent work includes MG fiction for children. The first came 'The Hippo at the end of the Hall' which was both written and illustrated in black and white by Helen and longlisted for the Carnegie medal in writing. The second; highly illustrated and published in October 2023 is 'The Taming of the Cat'. Read more on her website http//:helencooperbooks.co.uk (Author photos by Ella Pallett) Read less