Jo Simmons author page

Jo Simmons biography

Jo Simmons is a British author known for her humorous children’s and young adult fiction. She began her career as a sub-editor on magazines in London before becoming a freelance journalist. Inspired by her two sons’ love of funny stories, Simmons transitioned into writing children’s books in 2011.

Her debut series, Pip Street, launched with A Whiskery Mystery in 2013. The series, which blends adventure and comedy, was longlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Following this, she created the Super Loud Sam series, beginning with Super Loud Sam in 2015, and the standalone title The Dodo Made Me Do It in 2018.

Simmons gained wider recognition with her 2018 novel, I Swapped My Brother on the Internet, illustrated by Nathan Reed. The book was shortlisted for the Lollies Book Awards 2020 and was selected for Tom Fletcher’s 2018 WHSmith Book Club. It was followed by My Parents Cancelled My Birthday (2019), I Stole My Genius Sister’s Brain (2020), and I Lost My Granny in the Supermarket (2021), all illustrated by Reed and featuring recurring characters in increasingly absurd scenarios.

In 2022, Simmons ventured into young adult fiction with the first book in the The Reluctant Vampire Queen trilogy, published by Hot Key Books. The series follows Mo Merrydrew, a teenager unexpectedly chosen to be the vampire queen of Great Britain. The first installment was shortlisted for the Lollies Teen Award in 2024.

In addition to her fiction work, Simmons co-authored a humorous parenting book, Can I Give Them Back Now?: The Aargh to Zzzz of Parenting, published by Square Peg.

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Book lists featuring Jo Simmons