Meet the author

Simon Philip.

Writer · United Kingdom · b. 1988

A British picture-book author with a fast, funny, read-aloud voice, behind Sainsbury's-winning favourites like You Must Bring a Hat and the escalating comic mayhem of Oops!

Simon Philip is a British picture-book author, born in Chichester in 1988, whose fast, funny, read-aloud texts have been translated into more than twenty languages. His debut, You Must Bring a Hat, won the Sainsbury's Children's Book of the Year, and titles such as I Don't Know What to Call My Cat and I Really Want the Cake have made him a dependable name in giggly, child-centred comedy. Oops! (2026), illustrated by Nathan Reed, is classic Philip: one small unspoken 'sorry' snowballs into utter chaos, dragons, trolls and a flotilla of furious fishermen, until Clare remembers the one little word that fixes everything. Bold, silly and packed with visual jokes to spot, his books wrap a light-touch lesson in comic mayhem and a warm heart underneath, ideal for the very young and for reluctant readers.