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Home » Children’s Book Authors » Julia Donaldson – Children’s Book Author –

Julia Donaldson

– Children’s Book Author –

 
Julia Donaldson, Children's book writer

Julia Donaldson

Born in 1948 and brought up in Hampstead, London.

The family occupied a Victorian three-storey house near Hampstead Heath. Her parents, sister Mary and their pet cat Geoffrey lived on the ground floor, an aunt and uncle on the first floor and her grandmother on the second floor.

“Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us. A wind-up gramophone wafted out Chopin waltzes.”

Julia Donaldson studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where she met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic, whom she married.

She worked for a few years in publishing and as a teacher. Julia and Malcolm use to travel and busk, making up acts and songs for each country. Together they wrote and directed two musicals for children.

This creativity led to a career in singing and song writing, mainly for children’s television.

“I became an expert at writing to order on such subjects as guinea pigs, window-cleaning and horrible smells.”

In 1983 they moved with their three boys to Bristol where Malcolm Donaldson was appointed as Senior Registrar in Paediatrics to United Bristol Hospitals.

In 1993, one of her songs was made into a book, A Squash and a Squeeze.
It made her realise that her song-writing talent could be applied to story-writing, and gave her the confidence to open her drawer of simple plays for schoolchildren and to send some samples to an educational publisher.

In 1995, while looking for ideas for an educational series of plays based on traditional tales, Donaldson came across a version of a Chinese story about a little girl who escapes being eaten by a tiger by claiming to be the fearsome Queen of the Jungle and inviting him to walk behind her. The tiger misinterprets the terror of the various animals they meet as being related to her rather than him, and flees.

Julia sensed that this story could be developed into more than an educational item and returned to it later as a possible basis for a picture book. This of course became the basis for the first of the Gruffalo stories.

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.
ZOG Book Julia Donaldson Axel Scheffler
Julia has also worked with different illustrators, among them Lydia Monks, Nick Sharratt and David Roberts, and has written several young fiction titles, including three books about Princess Mirror-Belle, who is the badly-behaved reflection of a well-behaved girl.

Her novel for teenagers, Running on the Cracks, came out in 2009 and won the Nasen Inclusive Children’s Book Award.

She is also the author of many educational books, including the 60 books which comprise the phonic reading scheme Songbirds.

For three years she was writer in residence in Easterhouse, helping local children write and act. She is now patron of the charity Artlink Central which engages artists to work in hospitals, prisons and schools.

Her passion for drama is kept fresh by her frequent dramatic performances at book festivals and theatrical events, where she talks, acts and sings with her audiences.

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

Julia's Literature Awards
• 1999 Nestle Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award): The Gruffalo
• 2000 Blue Peter Best Book to Read Aloud: The Gruffalo
• 2001 Experian Big Three Award: The Gruffalo
• 2002 Spoken Book Awards, Children’s Audio of the Year: The Gruffalo
• 2002 Sheffield Book Award: Room on the Broom
• 2002 Scottish Children’s Book Award: Room on the Broom
• 2002 Stockport Book Award: Room on the Broom
• 2003 Norfolk Libraries Book Award: Room on the Broom
• 2003 Blue Peter Best Book to Read Aloud: Room on the Broom
• 2003 Spoken Book Awards Gold Prize for 6 and under: Room on the Broom
• 2003 Spoken Book Awards Silver Prize for 6 and under: Monkey Puzzle
• 2003 Red House Children’s Book Award: The Smartest Giant in Town
• 2003 Sheffield Children’s Book Award: The Smartest Giant in Town
• 2004 Portsmouth Book Awards: The Smartest Giant in Town
• 2004 Blue Peter Best Book to Read Aloud: The Smartest Giant in Town
• 2004 Spoken Book Awards Gold Prize for 6 and Under: The Smartest Giant in Town
• 2004 Book Trust Early Years Award: The Snail and the Whale
• 2005 Nottingham Book Award: The Smartest Giant in Town
• 2005 Blue Peter Best Book to Read Aloud: The Snail and the Whale
• 2005 Spoken Book Awards Gold Prize for 6 and Under Audio: The Snail and the Whale
• 2005 British Book Awards: The Gruffalo’s Child
• 2007 Giverny Award: The Snail and the Whale
• 2009 NASEN Book Awards: Running on the Cracks
• 2010 Galaxy Book Awards: Zog
• 2011 Stockport Book Award: What the Ladybird Heard
• 2011 Scottish Children’s Book Awards: What the Ladybird Heard
• 2011 Stockport Book Awards: The Troll
• 2011 Oxfordshire Book Awards: Zog
• 2012 Stockport Book Awards: Jack and the Flumflum Tree
• 2012 Oldham Book Awards: Jack and the Flumflum Tree

• Runners-up, etc

• 2002 Children’s Book Award: Room on the Broom
• 2003 WHSmith Children’s Book of the Year Award: Room on the Broom
• 2003 Experian Big 3 Award: Room on the Broom
• 2003 Experian Big 3 Award: Spinderella
• 2004 British Book Awards: The Gruffalo
• 2004 Stockport Book Awards: The Gruffalo
• 2004 Book Trust Early Years Award: Wriggle and Roar
• 2005 Southampton Book Award: The Gruffalo
• 2005 Red House Book Award: The Gruffalo’s Child
• 2005 Southampton Book Award: The Gruffalo’s Child
• 2005 Gateshead Children’s Book Award: The Giants and the Joneses
• 2005 Southampton Book Award: Sharing a Shell
• 2005 Stockport Book Award: One Ted Falls Out of Bed
• 2006 Nottingham Book Award: The Gruffalo
• 2006 Nottingham Book Award: The Gruffalo’s Child
• 2006 Scottish Children’s Book Award: Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book
• 2008 Scottish Children’s Book Award: Tyrannosaurus Drip
• 2008 Roald Dahl Funny Award: Stick Man
• 2009 Scottish Children’s Book Awards: Stick Man
• 2009 Astrid Lindgren Award: shortlisted jointly with Axel Scheffler for their contribution to children’s literature

• 2010 Leeds Book Awards: Running on the Cracks

• 2011 Galaxy Book Awards: The Highway Rat
• 2013 Scottish Children’s Book Awards: Jack and the Flumflum Tree

Julia’s Donaldson Books Reviewed

Room on the Broom bhildrens book by julia donaldsonTHE GRUFFALO Julia Donaldson Axel SchefflerZOG Book Julia Donaldson Axel Scheffler
 

 

 

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