Meet the author

Rachel Williams.

Writer · United Kingdom

Rachel Williams: author of the bestselling Slow Down, calm, beautifully illustrated nature books that help children stop, look and notice the small wonders around them.

Rachel Williams is an author and children's publisher, and the co-founder of the independent house Magic Cat Publishing. Australian by birth and now based in the UK, she came to writing through a long career editing beautiful non-fiction, and her own books share that eye for wonder and design. Slow Down (2020) pauses fifty everyday nature moments — a snail's silvery trail, a spider spinning its web, a shooting star — long enough for young readers to watch them unfold, part nature book, part mindfulness guide. Its companion, Patience, travels across eighteen spans of time to show that the best things are worth waiting for. Paired with richly detailed illustration, Williams's calm, unhurried texts are a gentle counterweight to a fast, screen-filled world, and a lovely way to build a child's lifelong habit of noticing.