Helen Sonia Cooper (born 1963 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) is a British illustrator and an author of children's literature. She grew up in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, where she practiced literature and piano playing. She currently lives in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. Cooper has twice been awarded the

Kate Greenaway Medal The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...

from the

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the U ...

(CILIP), recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

. She won for ''The Baby Who Wouldn't Go To Bed'' in 1996, which she wrote and illustrated. In 1998 she won for ''Pumpkin Soup'', which she also wrote and illustrated. They were consecutive projects for her. Beside winning the two Greenaway Medals (no one has won three), Cooper made the shortlist for ''The Bear Under the Stairs'' (Doubleday, 1993) and ''Tatty Ratty'' (Doubleday, 2001). As well as her solo picture books, Cooper writes picture book texts for other illustrators, and also illustrates her own

middle grade fiction Middle grade fiction is fiction intended for children between the ages of 8 and 12. While these books are sometimes grouped together with books for other age bands and called collectively "children's books", middle grade is distinct from, and is ...

- most recently, ''The Taming of the Cat' published by Faber and Faber in the UK. WorldCat reports that ''Pumpkin Soup'' is her work most widely held in participating libraries.

Personal life

Cooper was married to

Ted Dewan TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depart ...

, a fellow children's book author and illustrator and they have one daughter. They are now divorced.

Works

Cooper is both the writer and the illustrator of many published picture books and a set of four "mini-books" about toy animals (1994), later packaged in English, Spanish, and

Catalan language Catalan (; autonym: , ), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as ''Valencian'' (autonym: ), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of three autonomous communities in eastern Spa ...

s as ''Toy Tales'' (1999). She has illustrated a few books by other writers and written one book with another illustrator, as noted. * ''Kit and the Magic Kite'' (1987) * ''Lucy and the Eggwitch'' (1989), by Moira Miller * ''Solomon's Secret'' (1989), by

Saviour Pirotta Saviour Pirotta is a Maltese-born British author and playwright who resides in England. He is mostly known for the bestselling The Orchard Book of First Greek Myths, an adaptation of the Russian folktale, Firebird, and the Ancient Greek Myste ...

* ''Ella and the Rabbit'' (1990) * ''Christmas Stories for the Very Young'' (1990), a collection edited by Sally Grindley * ''The Owl and the Pussycat'' (1991), an edition of the classic by

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

* ''Chestnut Grey'' (1993) * ''The Bear Under the Stairs'' (1993) * ''The House Cat'' (1993) * ''Toy Tales'' (1994; 1999 omnibus under one title) ** ''The tale of bear'' ** ''The tale of frog'' ** ''The tale of duck'' ** ''The tale of pig'' * ''Little Monster Did It!'' (1995) * ''The Boy Who Wouldn't Go To Bed'' (1996) * ''Pumpkin Soup'' (1998) * ''Tatty Ratty'' (2001) * ''Sandmare'' (Corgi, 2001), written by Cooper and illustrated by

* ''A Pipkin of Pepper'' (2003 or 2004) – sequel to ''Pumpkin Soup'' * ''Delicious'' (2006) – sequel to ''Pumpkin Soup'' * ''Dog Biscuit'' (2008) * ''The Hippo at the end of the Hall'' (2017) - a children's illustrated middle grade novel. * ''Saving The Butterfly'' (2022) - Written by Cooper and illustrated by Gill Smith. * 'The Taming of the Cat' - a children's illustrated middle grade novel, written and illustrated by Cooper. References

External links

* British children's writers British children's book illustrators Kate Greenaway Medal winners Writers who illustrated their own writing Writers from London 1963 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) British women illustrators {{UK-child-writer-stub