Vivian French has been writing for over thirty years, and has published over 300 books for children. She is passionate about illustration and is a co-founder of Picture Hooks – a project that mentors emerging illustrators. She has taught illustration at ECA for over 14 years and is now a visiting lecturer. Vivian has an MBE for services to literature, literacy, illustration and the arts. Before she was a writer, Vivian was an actor and a story teller; she still loves telling stories, especially fairy stories and folk tales..