Rebecca Colby

Rebecca Colby is an award-winning author, poet and screenwriter. She has published over forty-eight children’s books with Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Nosy Crow, amongst others. Her first book, There Was a Wee Lassie Who Swallowed a Midgie, is a Scottish bestseller, and her book, Motor Goose: Rhymes That Go!, won a CLEL Bell Picture Book award and was honoured as a Junior Library Guild selection. Two of her nonfiction books, Beatrix and Her Bunnies: The Story of Beatrix Potter and The Castle the King Built, are featured at National Trust properties around the country.

In 2021, Rebecca was awarded an Arts Council grant to develop her creative practice. She is also a past recipient of both a Society of Authors grant and the annual Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Barbara Karlin grant.

Additionally, Rebecca writes scripts for film and TV. One of her short films garnered interest from a production company and is currently in development. Her scripts have been long-listed by the British Film Institute and the Chalker/Sanger Film Fund. More recently, she was short-listed for The Film Pitch Fund.

Before embarking on a career as an author, Rebecca taught English in Taiwan, worked for a Russian comedian and travelled the world as a tour director. She has also worked as a Retreat Manager for the prestigious Rocaberti [Screen]Writers’ Retreats. Her interests include dancing, hiking and learning languages. Originally from America, Rebecca lives in Yorkshire.