Clara Vulliamy grew up in London. Her father was an architect and her mother is the beloved children’s book author and illustrator Shirley Hughes. As a little girl Clara did not know how much her mother’s work meant to other people. What it meant to her, however, was the chance to draw and paint to her heart’s content. At the end of each day, she was allowed to use her mother’s leftover watercolors.

These days, of course, Clara is very aware of Shirley’s achievements, and she is proud to be her mother’s daughter. After graduating from art school, Clara began a career as a portrait painter and illustrator for magazines and newspapers. For the past fifteen years or so, since having children of her own, her work has been devoted to children’s books.

On “Kim and Carrots,” Clara says, “Kim and Carrots are like part of the family for me - I've known them for so many years. If they grew up in 'real time' they'd be teenagers by now! But of course they remain forever young.

I begin every story with fresh enthusiasm and pleasure, wondering what they'll get up to this time. A walk in the park or a game on the beach, a family get-together, some kind of artistic project... the possibilities are endless. What's so special for me is that the most simple situations give Kim and Carrots the chance to discover what an interesting world it is around them.

I feel that, for small children, no detail is unimportant, no worry insignificant, no achievement not worthy of celebration. In books there's no shortage of monsters, dragons, bears, mice... but in Kim and Carrots I hope our readers will in a way see themselves. And I especially love their affection for each other -- what loyal friends they are!”

Clara is inspired by the things she sees every day. Like many writers and illustrators, Clara spends a lot of important daydreaming time looking out of the window, waiting for ideas. Sometimes, inspiration “just comes, like a little basket on a pulley”. She also gets inspiration from the “little bits and pieces” she keeps around the house, from a collection of tiny shoes to paper-mâché sculptures and other works of art made by her children over the years. Clara lives in a big Victorian house in a quiet street in Twickenham, England, with her husband (himself a painter and a teacher), their son and daughter, and three guinea pigs.

Clara’s recent projects include illustrating Keep Love in Your Heart, Little One (Tiger Tales 2007), a picture book written by Giles Andreae (Orchard 2007) and The Bear with the Sticky Paws (Tiger Tales 2008).