Vivian June Isoult French (born 1945) is a British writer of picture book texts, novels, plays, and non-fiction for children and young adults. She has written more than 250 books – including the picture book ''Oliver's Vegetables'' (1995), The Tiara Club series of chapter books illustrated by Sarah Gibb (2005) and ''The Most Wonderful Thing in the World'' (2015) illustrated by Angela Barrett.

Life

Vivian French was born in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

and educated at

Cheltenham Ladies’ College Cheltenham Ladies' College (CLC) is a private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding and day school for girls aged 11 or older in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school was established in 1853 to provide "a sound academic edu ...

and

Exeter University The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School o ...

. She has worked as an actor, for the

National Book League National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, and as a community drama worker. As well as writing story books for young children, she has written plays and poetry. According to data from the

Public Lending Right A public lending right (PLR) is a program intended to either compensate authors for the potential loss of sales from their works being available in public libraries or as a governmental support of the arts, through support of works available in pu ...

, French was the 36th most borrowed author, and the 20th most borrowed children's author, from UK

public libraries ''Public Libraries'' is the official publication of the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). It is devoted exclusively to public libraries. The print edition is published six times a year and i ...

in 2011–2012. A tutor in the Illustration Department at

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

, Vivian is also co-founder of Picture Hooks, a mentoring scheme for young professional illustrators. In 2012 she was Guest Selector at the

Edinburgh International Book Festival The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place during two weeks in August every year in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. Described as ''The largest festival of its kind in the world'', the festival hosts ...

. French was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to literature, literacy, illustration, and the arts. Her series ''Tales from the Five Kingdoms'' has been described as "hilarious adventures with wicked witches, trolls, bats and fairy-tale magic" (Books for Keeps) and the ''Sunday Telegraph'' has called French "a sublime story-teller".

Works

References

External links

Vivian French's website

Interview with children’s author Vivian French

Gale Biographies of Children's Authors: Vivian French
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Vivian 1945 births Living people English children's writers Alumni of the University of Exeter Members of the Order of the British Empire English women novelists