Francesca Simon
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Francesca Isabella Simon Template:Post-nominals (born 23 February 1955) is an American-born British author. She is most famous for writing the Horrid Henry series of children's books.
She is the daughter of screenwriter and playwright Mayo Simon.<ref name="McCrum">Template:Cite news</ref>
Biography
Simon was born on 23 February 1955 in St. Louis, Missouri. She grew up in California and studied at Yale University and Jesus College, Oxford, where she majored in medieval studies and Old English. Simon worked as a journalist, writing for The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Mail on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph and Vogue (US).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She is married to an English husband, Martin Stamp, and has one son called Joshua (born August 1989).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Simon was inspired to write by Anthony Trollope.<ref name="Bookseller">Template:Cite news</ref> She began to write children's books full-time in 1989. Simon is one of the UK's best-selling children's writers;<ref name="McCrum" /> she has published more than 50 different books, including her most popular Horrid Henry series, which has sold more than 21 million copies and has been translated into 31 languages.<ref name="Sourcebooks">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Financial Times">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Exclusive Chat">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Morning With">Template:Cite news</ref> Simon got the idea for Horrid Henry when she was asked by Judith Elliott, an editor at Orion Books, to write a story about a horrid child.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="HowWe">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Financial Times"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She also wanted to write about sibling rivalry and families where one child was considered "perfect" and the other "horrid".<ref name="Q&A">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="HenryLivePDF">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Exclusive Chat"/> Inspiration also came from Cain and Abel, Oedipus Rex, Seinfeld, and Simon's own childhood, growing up in California the eldest of four siblings (including her sister Anne), desperately wanting to be an only child. They lived in small houses with confined spaces, with their father Mayo writing upstairs and telling them to be quiet.<ref name="What Makes">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Real Inspiration">Template:Cite news</ref> Many of the books' stories were inspired by events from Simon's life and those of people that she knew, with additional ideas coming from her imagination.<ref name="Q&A"/><ref name="FactsPDF">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="HenryPDF">Template:Cite web</ref>
Simon lives in London with her husband, Martin. Their Tibetan spaniel, Shanti, is memorialised in the short story "Shanti" that Simon wrote for inclusion in the Paws and Whiskers anthology by fellow author Jacqueline Wilson published in February 2014.<ref name=Shanti>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the spring of 2019, the Royal Opera House staged an opera based on Simon's book The Monstrous Child, about the Norse god of the dead, Hel, as an angry teenager. The opera is composed by Gavin Higgins with libretto by Simon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Selected works
- Horrid Henry series, illustrated by Tony Ross, Orion Books, 1994 to 2015, 2019
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book – longlisted for the Guardian Prize, 2014
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite book
Honours and awards
In 2008, Simon won the British Book Award for British Book Award The Children's Book of the Year with Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman. She is the first American to win this award.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Bookseller"/>
Simon was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to literature.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>