About

Louise Yates writes and illustrates books, draws and paints.

Her first book A Small Surprise, was published by Random House in 2009. 

In 2010, Louise won the Prince of Wales’ Award For Portrait Drawing at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ Annual Exhibition.

Dog Loves Books was published in 2010, debuted as a New York Times Bestseller and won the Parents’ Choice Award in the US.

In the UK, Dog Loves Books won the 2010 Roald Dahl Funny Prize, and was nominated (along with Frank and Teddy Make Friends 2011; Dog Loves Drawing, 2012; and Dog Loves Counting, 2014) for the Kate Greenaway Medal. Dog Loves Drawing was shortlisted for the Red House Children's Book Award in 2013. 

Dolly Parton read Dog Loves Books as a Cbeebies Book at Bedtime, and distributed 10,000 free copies to children aged 0-5 via Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

A musical adaptation of Dog Loves Books premiered and toured nationwide in the US, in 2015. The book has been adapted as an animated series for TV and is currently broadcast in the UK on Cbeebies, and ABC, Australia.

Louise read English at Christ Church, Oxford; and studied and taught at The Royal Drawing School, London. She lives and works in Dorset.

In conversation with Sir Quentin Blake:

With Laura Dockrill following Roald Dahl Funny Prize win: