Pat Hutchins - Biography

Biography

Hutchins was born 18 June 1942 in Yorkshire, the sixth of seven children. She won a scholarship to Darlington School of Art in 1958 and continued studying illustration at Leeds College of Art in 1960, graduating 1962. She worked for advertising agency in London to 1966 when she married Laurence Hutchins and moved to New York City for two years. There she worked on writing and illustrating her first picture book, Rosie's Walk, published in 1968 by The Bodley Head and Macmillan US. In the U.S. it was a runner up for the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and the librarians named it a 1968 ALA Notable Book. It remains her work most widely catalogued by WorldCat participating libraries.

Pat Hutchins has written novels for early readers, some illustrated by husband Laurence, and more than two dozen picture books. Beside winning the 1974 Greenaway Medal, she was a commended runner up for One-Eyed Jack (1979), another book she wrote and illustrated.

She played the role of an artistic narrowboat owner in the British children's television series, Rosie and Jim. She was a presenter on the series and subsequently illustrated books for the franchise.