Olivia Tuffin lives on an arable farm in Dorset with her farmer husband Clive, two children, and an assortment of ponies, dogs, pet sheep and chickens. She never outgrew the pony-mad stage and her favourite thing to do is to ride off for hours into the countryside with her children. She's always loved writing and wanted to write the kind of pony story she adored as a child. Her own ponies and their funny antics provide inspiration for her stories every day. Jo has been illustrating for more years than she cares to remember. Originally from Norfolk she graduated from Loughborough College of Art, travelled the world for a bit, worked for design agencies in London and Nottingham before finally settling with her family in deepest, darkest Leicestershire. On the whole she prefers to illustrate people (and ponies of course) but her work is varied and adaptable and can be seen on a vast range of projects from children's books, editorial design, educational publications to book jackets, advertising and packaging and most recently on Christmas 50p coins. Jo loves the theatre and aims to keep fit by playing tennis enthusiastically but with varying degrees of success.