Juliet Clare Bell

Juliet Clare Bell (always known as Clare) is a children’s author. Her focus is on telling engaging stories (mostly for children under ten), often with challenging themes such as bereavement, illness and freedom. Her first picture book has been shown numerous times on CBeebies, and her second was endorsed by Amnesty International UK. Both were shortlisted for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite (Europe) award. Her latest picture book, Ask First, Monkey! (illustrated by Abigail Tompkins), uses comedy to help children understand the concept of consent. She has written over thirty children’s books, including narrative nonfiction and books for children learning English as an additional language. She is currently editing her first young adult novel.

She received an Arts Council grant to create a fictional book about sibling bereavement (Benny’s Hat, illustrated by Dave Gray), which involved working with young people with life-limiting conditions, and bereaved and pre-bereaved siblings, and has recently received a Society of Authors grant for a narrative nonfiction book about a pioneering female scientist. She has taught classes on writing for children in general, writing picture books, and writing narrative nonfiction, and she runs projects in schools as an author on improving wellbeing by empowering students and encouraging them to make mistakes and take risks.

Prior to being a children’s author, Clare worked at Bristol University as a research developmental psychologist on Children of the Nineties, a longitudinal study, where she gained her PhD. She lives in Birmingham with her three children.