Cressida Cowell author page

Cressida Cowell biography

Cressida Cowell is a children’s author and illustrator. She wrote and illustrated the How to Train Your Dragon series, and she also wrote the Emily Brown picture books, which were illustrated by Neal Layton. She grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland, an experience that informed her interest in islands, adventure and storytelling.

Her books include How to Train Your Dragon, The Wizards of Once and Which Way to Anywhere. How to Train Your Dragon follows Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III as he tries to pass his Viking clan’s initiation test by catching and training a dragon. The Wizards of Once begins a fantasy series about Xar, a Wizard boy who cannot cast a spell, and Wish, a Warrior girl who has a banned magical object.

Cowell was Waterstones Children’s Laureate from 2019 to 2022. During that role, she created a ten-point Children’s Laureate Charter about children’s access to reading, books, libraries, bookshops, reading aloud, choice, creativity, author events and the environment. Her Life-changing Libraries project supported six primary schools in England to develop reading-for-pleasure cultures.

Cowell has won the Gold Award in the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize, the Hay Festival Medal for Fiction, and Philosophy Now magazine’s 2015 Award for Contributions in the Fight Against Stupidity. Which Way to the Future, part of the Which Way to Anywhere series, was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on 19 May 2026.

Cressida Cowell teaching resources

• Cressida Cowell’s official Schools page links to Hachette Schools resources, an Emily Brown and the Not-Very-Spooky Halloween event kit, a How to Train Your Dragon reading reward chart, a free Which Way to Anywhere extract and Cressida Cowell’s YouTube channel for readings, creativity videos and writing tips.
• Cressida Cowell’s official Events page gives Hachette contact details for bookshops, festivals and schools requesting an event, with information for schools wishing to host another local school as part of a shared author event.
• Hachette Schools’ Cressida Cowell page gathers publisher classroom downloads for ages 3-14, including Which Way to Anywhere teaching notes, The Wizards of Once teaching notes, How to Train Your Dragon School teaching notes, How to Train Your Dragon activity sheets and a Cressida Cowell classroom display pack.
• Hachette Schools’ Emily Brown and the Not-Very-Spooky Halloween event kit provides an age 3-6 download with activity sheets, a craft starter, costume ideas, simple comprehension questions for a book reading and an event poster.
• Authorfy’s Cressida Cowell masterclass provides video clips on How to Train Your Dragon, The Wizards of Once, writing adventure stories, making stories feel real, illustrations, creative process and series planning, plus downloadable resources and extracts for ages 7+ and 9+.
• Scottish Book Trust’s How to Train Your Dragon learning activities provides PDF and DOC downloads for ages 9-11 with cross-curricular activities, book-and-film comparison work, media-literacy activities, library tasks and whole-school activity suggestions.