Polly Dunbar

By Michael Morpurgo, and While We Can't Hug by Eoin Mclaughlin. Hello, Mum is Polly's first book for grown-ups, a visual diary about early motherhood. She is the daughter of children's book writer Joyce Dunbar, whose picture book Shoe Baby she illustrated.

• Name — Polly Dunbar • Birthplace — Cotswolds, England • Occupation — Illustrator, writer • Genre — Children's picture books • Website — pollydunbar.com Polly Dunbar (born 1977) is an English author-illustrator.

Dunbar was born in the Cotswolds and moved to Stratford upon Avon at eight months old. She went to school there until she was eleven and moved to Norwich with her family. There she attended City of Norwich School and Norwich School of Art and Design, now known as Norwich University College of the Arts. She started writing and illustrating at age 16, when she published two books – which she describes as "cartoon books inspired by teenage antics". She went to Brighton University and graduated in 1999 with a degree in illustration. She lives in Waveny Valley, Suffolk with her partner and their two sons.

Polly Dunbar's Dog Blue and Flyaway Katie, both as author-illustrator, were published in 2004. The following year she illustrated Shoe Baby, written by her mother, author Joyce Dunbar. Her 2007 book Penguin is her most critically acclaimed book to date, winning the Booktrust Early Years Awards in the pre-school category and the silver award in the Nestle Children's Book Prize for children under five years old. She is also the illustrator for Here's A Little Poem which was on the IBBY honour's book list for 2008, and Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, which won a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award in 2009. Dunbar was named "Most Promising New Illustrator" in Publishers Weeklys Cuffie Awards in 2004. In 2008, she was featured in The Timess list of "The best new picture book illustrators". In 2008 Booktrust named her one of the Ten Best Illustrators, and in 2011 she became their fourth writer in residence. In 2020, Dunbar illustrated Can Bears Ski? by award-winning poet Raymond Antrobus, Owl or Pussycat? by Michael Morpurgo, and While We Can't Hug by Eoin Mclaughlin. In 2021 her first adult book, Hello, Mum, was published by Faber and Faber.

Her Tilly and Friends books became a BBC animated television series, which aired on CBeebies in 2012. She co-founded Long Nose Puppets in 2006. Since then, the company has performed puppet adaptations of her books Penguin, Flyaway Katie, Shoe Baby, Arthur's Dream Boat, and soon While We Can't Hug. Their production of Shoe Baby won Best Children’s Show at Brighton Fringe Festival.

• Help I've forgotten my Brain, Kingfisher 1996 • Help I'm out with the in-crowd, Kingfisher 1996

• all published via Walker Books • adapted into BBC series 2012 cartoon Tilly and Friends on TVO Kids. • "Hello Tilly" 2008, MIDI edition 6 September 2012 about a human girl • "Happy Hector" 2008, MIDI edition 6 September 2012 about a pig boy • "Pretty Pru" 2008, MIDI edition 6 September 2012 about a bird girl • "Where's Tumpty?" 2008, MIDI edition 6 September 2012 about an elephant boy • "Doodle Bites" 2008, MIDI edition 6 September 2012 about a girl crocodile • "Goodnight, Tiptoe" 2008, MIDI edition 6 September 2012 about a boy bunny • "Let's Get Wheeling!" 1 August 2013 • "Listen to Me!" 1 August 2013 • "Star Party" 1 August 2013 • "The Best Day Ever" 1 August 2013 • "What's Everyone Doing?" 3 April 2014 • "Who's Hiding?" 3 April 2014 • "Doctor Tilly" 3 July 2014 • "Tumpty's Plane" 3 July 2014 Sticker Activity Books: • "Dressing Up" 3 October 2013 • "Play All Day" 3 October 2013