London-born, but growing up in Taunton, Somerset, the infant Emily Golden Twomey drew anything she could get her tiny hands on. After years of decorating her carpet with paint, she graduated with a first-class Honours degree from the Arts Institute in Bournemouth. Shortly after leaving university, she had her first exhibition with four fellow illustrators in London, and has been freelancing ever since – with influential clients including Urban Outfitters, United Airlines, the Guardian and Scholastic. She also undertakes many commissions for private collectors, and recently became one of the 40 finalists in the first ever Aesthetica Creative Works Competition.

Emily’s first children’s book, The Loon in the Moon, was published by Scholastic in 2010 and her second is due out in 2011. A devotee of pub quizzes and jewellery-making, she is often inspired in her work by bizarre stories and folk tales from around the world. Emily is nominated for the 2011 Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration for 'The Loon on the Moon'.