Children's author Shirley Hughes dies aged 94 after short illness

Children’s author and illustrator Shirley Hughes has died at the age of 94, her family has confirmed.

Hughes, best known for the Alfie series, died peacefully at her home on 25th February after a short period of illness, a statement said.

Best known for the much loved picture book Dogger, published in 1977, Hughes went on to win the Kate Greenway Medal for outstanding illustrations.

Accruing lifetime sales of over £10 million, she illustrated some 200 children’s books in her career.

Multiple award winner

Hughes won the prize a second time when she published Ella’s Big Chance in 2003 – a contemporary retelling of Cinderella.

In 2017, the author received a CBE for her services to literature, following an OBE in 1999.

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Other notable accolades include the inaugural BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

She was chosen by a judging panel of authors including Sir Michael Morpurgo and Malorie Blackman.

Upon receiving the award Hughes described it as a “tremendous honour”.

She said: “I have derived so much fulfilment from my long career, first as an illustrator for other artists’ stories and then creating my own.

“Best of all has been perennially encountering very young children who are learning to look with such rapt pleasure and follow a story visually long before they are able to read.”

‘Shirley’s incredible stories touched so many generations’

Since the news of her death, tributes have been pouring in on social media.

All of us at @BookTrust are devastated to hear the news that Shirley Hughes has passed away at the age of 94.

Shirley's incredible stories and illustrations, from Dogger to Alfie and Lucy and Tom, have touched so many generations and are still so loved.

Thank you, Shirley. pic.twitter.com/XzL4Gs8tV3

Notably the charity BookTrust thanked Shirley for “touching so many generations” and creating stories “which are still loved”.

Author Michael Rosen was also among those paying tribute, tweeting: “Shirley Hughes is gone. Long live wonderful, lovely Shirley. You’ve delighted and moved us for years and years and will go on doing so.”

Born in West Kirby, Hughes was the daughter of TJ Hughes, who founded what would become a successful chain of department stores that first appeared in Liverpool.

She studied drawing and costume design at the Liverpool School of Art, and also studied fine art at Oxford’s Ruskin School of Art.

Her early work included illustrations for Dorothy Edwards’ My Naughty Little Sister, with the first picture book she illustrated being Lucy and Tom’s Day in 1960.

In 2017, when asked about the inspiration for Dogger, she told the PA News Agency the canine character was inspired by her own son losing his stuffed toy dog.

She said: “At the time both his ears flopped over, but the toy was pressed so lovingly against his owner’s face that one ear was pushed upwards, so when I came to do the story I used him as a model.”

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