Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson

Donaldson at the 2011 Children´s and Young Adult Program of the Berlin International Literature Festival
Donaldson at the 2011 Children´s and Young Adult Program of the Berlin International Literature Festival
BornJulia Donaldson Catherine Shields
(1948-09-16) 16 September 1948 (age 76)[1]
Hampstead, London, England
OccupationWriter, playwright
Alma materUniversity of Bristol
Period1993–present
GenreChildren's fiction, drama, and songs (retail and schools markets)
Notable worksThe Gruffalo
Room on the Broom
Stick Man
Spouse
Malcolm Donaldson
(m. 1972)
Children3 (1 deceased)
Website
www.juliadonaldson.co.uk

Julia Catherine Donaldson CBE MBE (née Shields; born 16 September 1948)[3][1] is an English writer and playwright, and the 2011–2013 Children's Laureate. She is best known for her popular rhyming stories for children, especially those illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which include The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Stick Man. She originally wrote songs for children's television but has concentrated on writing books since the words of one of her songs, "A Squash and a Squeeze", were made into a children's book in 1993. Of her 184 published works, 64 are widely available in bookshops. The remaining 120 are intended for school use and include her Songbirds phonic reading scheme, which is part of the Oxford University Press's Oxford Reading Tree.

  1. ^ a b "Julia Donaldson". Encyclopædia Britannica – Britannica Kids. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Julia Donaldson". Desert Island Discs. 15 November 2009. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  3. ^ Walsh, John (3 October 2015). "Julia Donaldson interview: The Gruffalo author on how Judi Dench and busking helped her career". The Independent. Retrieved 12 April 2020.