Children’s Book Author Shirley Hughes has Died at 94

Shirley Hughes was the English author and illustrator of beloved picture books like Out and About, Dogger, and the Alfie series. She wrote more than 50 books, including novels, and illustrated 200 others, winning two Kate Greenaway Medals almost 30 years apart for her illustrations. She also won a BookTrust Lifetime Achievement award in 2015.

Michael Morpurgo shared the impact that her books had:

We have all grown up with the stories and drawings of Shirley Hughes deep inside us. We’ve enjoyed them for ourselves, with our children, with our grandchildren.

Shirley must have began the reading lives of so many millions. That moment when you’ve read a book like Alfie and sit back and think ‘that was wonderful, tell me another’. Thank you Shirley from all of us, children of today and children of yesterday.

The beloved author and illustrator died peacefully at home at 94, after a short illness.