Eileen Browne was born and bought up in Birmingham but lived in London for over twenty years before moving to Wiltshire in 1995. She worked as a school teacher and a youth worker before becoming as author and illustrator, her first book was published in 1977.

Eileen believes that "Certain groups of people are not well represented in books. For example, females only feature as main characters in around a third of children's books. Because of this I give them priority. Where's That Bus? was one of the first animal picture books published with all female characters." Indeed Through My Window, published in 1986, was the first ever picture book in Britain to feature a child with a black mother and white father.

School Visits
Eileen will work with key stage 1 and nursery pupils in groups of up to thirty children. She will will read stories and show them how a picture-book is made from the first ideas to the finished item.

This includes the agonies of writing (and re-writing); rejected ideas; new projects; making up 'dummy' books; first roughs; illustrating; the printing process (colour separations), printing errors, 'running sheets'! ; etc

She has written and illustrated books with, amongst others, Kit Wright and Floella Benjamin. Through My Window, written in collaboration with Tony Bradman, was shortlisted for the 1986 Smarties Book Prize. No Problem was shortlisted for the 1994 Nottinghamshire Children's Book Award and Handa's Surprise was shortlisted for the 1995 Sheffield Children's Book Award.

To book Eileen for a performance in your school...
To check Eileen's availability for school performances and to find out current prices for Eileen and other performers please contact:

Jubilee Books
Address of head office
31a Vanburgh Park
Blackheath
London SE3 7AE

t. (020) 8293 6060
f. 056 0150 8125
e. e-mail Jubilee Books

Our office is open Monday to Friday 9.30am to 5.30pm.