Francesca Isabella Simon was born on 23 February 1955 and is an American-born British author who resides in North London.
11 Facts About Francesca Simon
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Francesca Simon is most famous for writing the Horrid Henry and Evil Evie series of children's books.
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Francesca Simon worked as a journalist, writing for The Sunday Times, Guardian, Mail on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph and Vogue.
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Francesca Simon got the idea for the Horrid Henry books when a friend asked her to write a story about a horrid child.
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Francesca Simon wanted to write about sibling rivalry and families where one child was considered "perfect" and the other "horrid".
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Many of the Horrid Henry stories were inspired by events from Francesca Simon's life, including her childhood, and those of people that she knew, with additional ideas coming from her imagination.
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Francesca Simon began to write children's books full-time in 1989.
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Francesca Simon is one of the UK's best-selling children's writers; she has published more than 50 different books, including her most popular series Horrid Henry series, which has sold more than 25 million copies, and has been translated into 24 languages.
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In 2008, Francesca Simon won the British Book Award for British Book Award The Children's Book of the Year with Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman.
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Francesca Simon is the first American to win this award.
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Francesca Simon was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to literature.