Vivian French

Vivian lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. She began writing for children in 1990, after a short career as an actor, playwright and storyteller. Since then she has written over 300 books for children aged zero to teens - fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

She taught part-time at Edinburgh College of Art in the Illustration department for 14 years, and is still a visiting lecturer. She also gives talks generally about children’s picture books, and picture book illustration.

The co-founder of Picture Hooks, a mentoring project that supports emerging illustrators, Vivian also mentors author/illustrators as The Picture Book Doctor.

In 2016 she was awarded an MBE for services to literature, literacy, illustration and the arts.

In 2018 she won the Scottish Book Trust Outstanding Achievement award for her work in schools and libraries.

In 2022 she was made a Patron of the Wigtown Book Festival.