You Must Bring a Hat

Kate Hindley studied illustration at Falmouth College of Art, and went on to work for two years as a children's print designer at a studio in Northampton, whilst working freelance on children's books and greetings cards. She has now illustrated many much-loved picture books, including Oliver and Patch by Claire Freedman (author of the Aliens Love Underpants series) and the award-winning You Must Bring a Hat by Simon Philip. In 2019, Kate launched her adorable Treacle Street series lift-the-flap books, for which she both writes and illustrates. In 2020, she illustrated The Littlest Yak, written by Lu Fraser, which went on to win both the Sainsburys Children's Book Award and Oscar's Book Prize. Kate lives in Birmingham.

Simon was born in Chichester in 1988 and has lived there ever since, although he occasionally leaves to buy milk. After gaining a 1st class degree in History at Exeter University, he immediately put his skills to good use working as a barman at a local pub. He soon grew tired of the owner calling him Andy, and so, naturally, decided to become a primary school teacher. Teaching rekindled his love of children’s literature, particularly picture books, so much so that he had a go at writing his own. Deciding he was better at writing stories for children than he would ever be at teaching them, he made a swift exit from education to live the cliché of the writer who works in a bar. He hopes that one day he’ll be able to give up writing stories and become a barman full-time.