Lucy and Tom at School

About Shirley Hughes

Winner of the Book Trust Lifetime Achievement Award 2015.  

Shirley Hughes (1927 – 2022) was born and grew up in West Kirby, near Liverpool. She studied at Liverpool Art School and at the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, before embarking on a career as a freelance illustrator. At first she worked as an interpretive illustrator, but she began to write and design her own picture books when her children were very young. Her first book, Lucy and Tom's Day, was published in 1960.

Shirley Hughes illustrated over two hundred children's books and is renowned as a champion of children's literature. She has been the recipient of the Other Award, the Kate Greenaway Medal and the prestigious Eleanor Farjeon Award. She was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in2010, which rewards the best in contemporary children's and young adult literature from all over the world.

Click here to read more about the author.

And find an obituary to Shirley Hughes here.