Don't Forget the Bacon

Pat Hutchins was born Patricia Goundry on June 18, 1942 in Catterick Camp, an army training camp in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England. In 1958 at the age sixteen, she won a scholarship to attend the Darlington School of Art. She studied there for two years and earned a scholarship to Leeds College of Art, where she earned a National Diploma in Design two years later. When she finished school in 1962, Pat decided to move to London. She spent her first six months in London as a part-time shop assistant. In 1963, Pat got a job at J. Walter Thompson, an advertising agency in London, as an assistant art director. She met her husband there and after they were married, her husband was transferred by the advertising company to head up its New York office. The couple lived in New York's Greenwich Village until 1968. Pat continued to try to get work as an illustrator when she arrived in New York. The Macmillan Company was particularly interested in her work and encouraged her to start writing her own stories. Her first book, Rosie's Walk, was published in 1968 and was a 1968 ALA Notable Book. In 1975 The Wind Blew won the Kate Greenaway Medal. Since then she has written five novels and created more than twenty picture books. Her popular Titch books are being made into television shows, and Hutchins now works on screenplays and set design.