Polly Dunbar
# Polly Dunbar

Polly Dunbar (born 1977) is an English author-illustrator.

She is best known for her self-illustrated books Penguin, the Tilly and Friends series (which became a BBC children's television series) and Hello, Mum – an illustrated memoir of motherhood and her first book for adults.

She has also illustrated other authors' books: Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, My Dad's a Birdman by David Almond, Can Bears Ski? by poet Raymond Antrobus, Owl or Pussycat? 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.

## Biography

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.

## Career

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 Weekly''s Cuffie Awards in 2004. In 2008, she was featured in The Times's 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.

## Adaptations

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.

