Jan McCafferty

After working as a designer for Usborne Publishing, I left in 2000 to concentrate on illustration. I now live in Chorlton-Cum-Hardy in Manchester with my teacher husband Steve and two daughters, Lara and Natasha.

I've just started to dip my oes into writing children's stories, heavily influenced I'm sure by my favourite books as a child, The Faraway Tree trilogy by Enid Blyton, which my daughters now love too, and pretty much every Roald Dahl book written. I love illustration, and try and buy every beautiful book I come across to add to my collection. Illustrators like Nicoletta Ceccoli, Benjamin Lacombe, Charles Fuge and Shaun Tan are just utterly fabulous! Plus, I love the line work of Quentin Blake and Chris Riddell. I love music, and working alone, listening to it keeps me sane! I try and get out to live gigs when I can, also the cinema when I can beg, borrow or steal a babysitter for the evening!