Liz Pichon (born 16 August 1963) is a British author and illustrator of children's books. She is best known for her '' Tom Gates'' series of "satirical realist comedy fiction", which has been translated into 43 languages and sold more than eight million copies worldwide.

Early life

Pichon was born on 16 August 1963 in London, England. She is the daughter of Francis and Joan Pichon. She received a BA in

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

at the

Camberwell School of Art Camberwell College of Arts is a public tertiary art school in Camberwell, in London, England. It is one of the six constituent colleges of the University of the Arts London. It offers further and higher education programmes, including postgradu ...

. Her first job was as an

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

for the music label

Jive Records Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...

, a position she held between 1987 and 1990. Her best-selling and multi-award-winning ''Tom Gates'' series was first published in 2011. There are currently 19 books in the Tom Gates series, as well as a special £1 book produced for World Book Day in 2013, a Tom Gates Annual, a Tom Gates Activity Book and a Tom Gates Music Book. In 2016 Pichon created the "Kids' Tapestry", a children's version of the Bayeux Tapestry, featuring historical events to the mark the 950th anniversary of the

Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings nrf, Batâle dé Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William the Conqueror, William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godw ...

. In 2017 Pichon, Horsenden Primary School and her publisher, Scholastic Children's Books, broke the world record for the largest disco dance. ''Shoe Wars'', Pichon's new middle-grade title, was published in October 2020. A new television series based on the Tom Gates books is currently airing on Sky in 2021.

Personal life

Pichon is

dyslexic Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

, like her character Tom Gates. In 1990, she married Mark Flannery and they have three children: one son and two daughters. They currently live in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Works

Outside of Tom Gates

*'' My Big Brother, Boris'' (Scholastic, 2004) *''Bored Bill'' (Little Tiger, 2015) *''Penguins'' (London: Gullane Children's Books, 2008) *''The Three Horrid Pigs and the Big Friendly Wolf'' (Little Tiger, 2008); US title, ''The Three ''Horrid'' Little Pigs'' (Tiger Tales, 2008) *Shoe Wars (Scholastic UK, 2020)

As illustrator only (selected)

* ''Twilight Rhymes Moonlight Verse'', compiled by Mary Joslin (Oxford: Lion Children's Books, 1997) * ''Spinderella'', written by

Julia Donaldson Julia Donaldson (born Julia Catherine Shields; born ) is an English writer and playwright, and the 2011–2013 Children's Laureate. She is best known for her popular rhyming stories for children, especially those illustrated by Axel Scheffler, ...

(

Egmont UK Egmont may refer to: * Egmont Group, a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark * Egmond family (often spelled "Egmont"), an influential Dutch family, lords of the town of Egmond ** Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522–1568), the bes ...

, 2002) * ''Beautiful Bananas'', Elizabeth Laird (

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 ...

, 2003) * ''The Three Billy Goats Fluff'', Rachael Mortimer (

Hodder Children's Books Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher ...

, 2010) * ''Red Riding Hood and the Sweet Little Wolf'', Rachael Mortimer (Hodder, 2012)

''Tom Gates'' series

* ''The Brilliant World of Tom Gates'' (2011) * ''Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses (And Other Good Stuff)'' (2011) * ''Tom Gates: Everything's Amazing (Sort Of)'' (2011) * ''Tom Gates: Genius Ideas (Mostly)'' (2012) * ''Tom Gates Is Absolutely Fantastic (at Some Things)'' (2013) * ''Tom Gates: Best Book Day Ever! (so far)'' (2013) * ''Tom Gates: Extra Special Treats (not)'' (2013) * ''Tom Gates: A Tiny Bit Lucky'' (2014) * ''Tom Gates: Yes! No (Maybe... )'' (2015) * ''Tom Gates: Top of the Class (Nearly)'' (2015) * ''Tom Gates: Super Good Skills (Almost...)'' (2016) * ''Tom Gates: DogZombies Rule (For Now)'' (2016) * ''Tom Gates: Family, Friends and Furry Creatures'' (2017) * ''Tom Gates: Epic Adventure (kind of)'' (2017) * ''Tom Gates: Totally Brilliant Annual'' (2017) * ''Tom Gates: Biscuits, Bands and Very Big Plans'' (2018) * ''Tom Gates: What Monster?'' (2018) * ''Tom Gates: Mega Make and Do (and Stories Too!)'' (2019) * ''Tom Gates: Spectacular School Trip (really!)'' (2019) * ''Tom Gates: Ten Tremendous Tales'' (2021) * ''Tom Gates: Random Acts Of Fun'' (2021)

Awards

* 1998 National Parenting Publications Award, ''Twilight Rhymes Moonlight Verse'', poetry compiled by Mary Joslin and illustrated by Pichon, 1997 *

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

Funny Prize 2011 *

Red House Children's Book Award The Federation of Children's Book Groups Children's Book Award is a set of annual literary prizes for children's books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar year. It recognises one "Overall" winner and one book in each of three cat ...

2012 *

Waterstones Children's Book Prize The Waterstones Children's Book Prize is an annual award given to a work of children's literature published during the previous year. First awarded in 2005, the purpose of the prize is "to uncover hidden talent in children's writing" and is there ...

2012 for Best Fiction for 5-12 Year Olds *

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

Award for Best Story 2013 Runner-up: * 2004: Silver Award,

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and ...

(0–5 years), ''My Big Brother Boris'' * 2012: Finalist,

and the Stockport Schools Book Award, ''The Three Horrid Pigs and the Big Friendly Wolf'' *2012: Shortlisted for the Specasvers National Book Awards Children's Book of the Year, ''Genius Ideas (Mostly)''

References

External links

* *
Blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pichon, Liz 1963 births Writers from London British children's book illustrators British children's writers English women writers British women children's writers Living people 21st-century English writers 21st-century English women writers Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts