Here are twenty facts about Francesca Simon, the author of the Horrid Henry books. You’ll probably know some of this information already, but hopefully you will learn something new, too.
- Francesca Simon was born on 23rd February 1955 in St Louis, Missouri (United States).
- She went to Yale university in the US and Oxford in the UK. She studied Old English.
- Francesca went on to become a journalist and wrote for the Guardian, the Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph.
- Francesca Simon has had more than 50 books published.
- Her book Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman won the prize for Children’s Book of the Year at the 2008 British Book Awards.
- Francesca Simon has a Tibetan Spaniel called Shanti.
- It takes about four months to write each Horrid Henry book.
- Francesca Simon likes writing but hates starting a new piece of work. She says that her favourite part of the writing process is when she’s improving a rough draft.
- Her favourite authors as a child were Edward Eager and Beverley Cleary.
- Her current favourite author is Anthony Trollope.
- Francesca’s first book was called Papa Forgot and was published in 1983.
- She has a grown-up son called Joshua.
- Francesca started to write books full-time in 1989.
- She writes her books in the attic of her Victorian house in London.
- She usually works in silence.
Check out Francesca Simon’s website, or learn more about other famous children’s authors.
