W.W. WEBBY Y LA RED MUNDIAL (MILLY & MOLLY)

I grew up in a household of readers with my mother reading to me at every opportunity. She had a lovely way with words and wrote for a medical journal in her youth. Well into her eighties now, she still writes a very good letter. I was a very slow and reluctant reader and am to this day an appalling speller! It wasn’t until I had four children of my own on a remote hill country farm that I began my love affair with words. Not only did I enjoy reading to the children but, in writing short stories, I also found relief from the tedium of bringing up a young family in isolation. I entered the odd short story competition with a modicum of success but the Milly, Molly books were my first foray into serious publishing. Milly, Molly books are now available in 70 countries and in 21 languages. Distribution negotiations are under way in a further 20 countries and in 13 more languages. There are 78 titles written, 40 of them published and a further eight coming out this year. Initially I wrote to inspire my grandchildren; then I aspired to something more. Helping every child grow up with a healthy self-esteem has become my heart’s desire. I live with my husband, John, surrounded by our four grandchildren in Gisborne, on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. We live in the hills on a farm, at the end of a long dusty road. It is from this backdrop of family and country life that I draw my inspiration. I have recently written another four-book series for which I am working with French illustrator Gregoire Mabire.