Mary Murphy Award-Winning Illustrator and Author

Mary Murphy is an award-winning children’s author based in Ireland. Find out more about Mary in our children’s author profile:

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Mary Murphy Award-winning Illustrator and Author

Mary has written about 40 children’s titles with different publishers such as Walker and Red Fox. She also illustrates books. Here are a list of some of Mary’s books which you may recognise:

• Comings and Goings at Parrot Park
• Parrot Park
• How Kind
• Panda Foo and the new friend
• Comet the Fairy Dog
• Moonchap
• All the Little Ones
• Little Owl and the Star
• I like it When
• Please Be Quiet
• I Kissed The Baby
• Koala and the Flower

Mary Murphy as a child

Mary was the third of six children. As a child, Mary was a constant reader. Her favourite books included Mary Poppins, Peter Pan and Tom’s Midnight Garden. She also loved any stories about animals.

Mary Murphy as an adult

Mary lives in Dublin, Ireland, and describes herself as “fairly outdoorish, but not sporty”. She loves walking, swimming, reading and cycling.

Mary Murphy as artist

Mary studied Illustration and Design in Dublin before freelancing as an illustrator. She has always written for pleasure, and soon began developing ideas for children’s books following the antics of characters she had already visualised.

A technique she sometimes uses is to draw the character in different situations, and then see what follows on from there.

Visit Mary’s official website for more fun facts and news.

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Have you got a favourite Mary Murphy book? Tell us in the comments below.