Children’s Author Profile: Mary Murphy

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

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Mary has written many 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

As a child

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 was the third of six children.

As an adult

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

As an 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.

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