Lou Carter author page

Lou Carter biography

Lou Carter is a British children’s author who worked as a primary school teacher before becoming a picture book writer. Her books include Pirate Stew, illustrated by Nikki Dyson and published by Orchard Books, and the bestselling There Is No Dragon in This Story, illustrated by Deborah Allwright and published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books.

There Is No Dragon in This Story follows a dragon who struggles to find a place in traditional fairy tales after characters including Goldilocks and Hansel and Gretel refuse to include him. The book has been published in 23 languages and forms part of Bloomsbury’s There Is No… series. Carter and Allwright subsequently collaborated on There Is No Big Bad Wolf in This Story and There Is No Giant in This Story.

Carter also created the Oscar the Hungry Unicorn picture book series, illustrated by Nikki Dyson and published by Orchard Books. Beginning with Oscar the Hungry Unicorn in 2018, the series includes Oscar the Hungry Unicorn Eats Christmas, Oscar the Hungry Unicorn Eats Easter, Oscar the Hungry Unicorn and the New Babycorn and Oscar the Hungry Unicorn Eats Cake. Her earlier picture book Pirate Stew was shortlisted for the Stockport Children’s Book Awards.

Her other Bloomsbury titles include The Great Hamster Getaway, illustrated by Magda Brol and published in 2022, and Wowzers!, published in May 2024 with illustrations by Brol. The third book in her There Is No… series, There Is No Giant in This Story, was published in paperback by Bloomsbury Children’s Books on 19 June 2025 and was selected as a Waterstones Best Baby and Toddler Book of 2025.