Jill Barklem

Jill Barklem (1951–2017) was a British writer and children’s illustrator. She studied illustration at St Martin’s School of Art in London and later worked as a freelance author and illustrator. She became widely known for the Brambly Hedge series, whose first stories about a mouse colony were published from 1980 onward. Barklem spent five years researching the project before writing the stories, and developed the idea for the imaginary mouse world during her long journeys to college.