Escaped teacher, now writing for children with 46 books published so far, ranging from early reading material to teenage novels. I've written 4 books for Franklin Watts, 4 for Wayland and one for Hodder.

I'm married with two grown up children and five grandchildren, no pets, though I used to have three beautiful cats, guinea pigs and rabbits. When I was a child, we kept chickens and I loved them, too.

I always have my nose in a book. I read both adult's and children's books. My favourite children's books include The Railway Children by E Nesbit, Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson, River on the Say by Philippa Pearce. My adult reading varies from Charles Dickens to many modern authors. I enjoy listening to music, classical, jazz and some pop.

Lauren Tobia graduated from the University of the West of England with a degree in Illustration and was highly commended in the Macmillan Children's Book Prize.

She is the illustrator of Baby’s Got the Blues by Carol Diggory Shields, and the highly successful Anna Hibiscus picture books written by Atinuke.

Lauren lives in Bristol with her husband and their two Jack Russell terriers, Poppy and Tilly.