Lauren Child grew up in Marlborough, Wiltshire. She is the middle of three sisters and both her parents are teachers. She has had a variety of jobs from waitressing to designing exotic, elegant lampshades and working as an artist's assistant to Damien Hirst. Lauren Child is considered one of the most talented children's book author/illustrators working today and has won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato, the Nestle Gold Book Award for That Pesky Rat and the Nestle Bronze Book Award for Beware of the Storybook Wolves. Utterly Me, Clarice Bean, Lauren's first fiction title, was a runaway success all over the world followed by Clarice Bean Spells Trouble and Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now. Lauren has now sold over 3 million books in 19 countries across the globe. Notable events in Lauren's career include selection for Quentin Blake's Magic Pencil Exhibition (British Library) in 2005; the Charlie and Lola TV series winning a BAFTA in 2007; In 2008 Lauren was appointed Artist for Peace by UNESCO and has been spearheading a project to raise money for UNESCO's Programme for the Education of Children in Need, called My Life is a Story. All profits from the sale of a special edition of That Pesky Rat will go to UNESCO. A retrospective of Lauren's work is now a major new exhibition starting at the Manchester Art gallery and now travelling the country. Lauren loves designing and making things and finds it exciting to see her drawings turned into objects. Other favourite things include the cinema, TV matinees, small Italian cars, handbags, cardigans, travelling and being picked up from the airport.