Hello! I’m Jo Cotterill and I write books for children and young people. Some random things about me:
1. I live in Oxfordshire.
2. I have two daughters who make me laugh every day and give the best hugs.
3. I love cheese. And chocolate. And CAKE. Cake seems to be very important to writers. When we meet up, there is almost always cake involved.
4. I love the Great British Bake Off and Strictly Come Dancing. When I was younger I studied ballet, jazz and tap dance, so I’d love to have a go at ballroom one day.
5. One of my previous jobs was being a fireworks technician. I got to wear a hard hat and a boiler suit with my name on it, and I got very close to explosives and it was frightening and fun all at the same time.
6. When I was a teenager, I didn’t write a lot of stories. Instead, I wrote a lot of music. And I played flute, piccolo, alto saxophone, piano and violin. Nowadays I can’t play them all very well (because being good at something takes practice and I don’t do it any more!) but sometimes, I still write songs.
7. I love talking to kids about books and stories. They have the BEST ideas.
8. I love starting a story and not really knowing where it’s going. For me, the magic of writing is not knowing what’s going to come out of your imagination next.
9. One of the nicest things about being an author is being friends with other authors who are just as bonkers as you are.
10. I have won the following awards: The Hampshire Book Award, the North East Book Award, the Coventry Inspiration Book Award, the Oxfordshire Book Award, the Stockport Children’s Book Award, the Tower Hamlets Book Award and the Fantastic Book Awards. Awards are lovely things because it’s nice to get prizes, but the best thing about them is knowing that lots of young people liked your made-up stuff.
Jo Cotterill 
Hi Jo I recently read one of your books called Jelly. I found it really gripping and was up till ten at night reading it – where do you get your ideas from?! I canβt wait to read another one of your books!
Merhaba Jo. Bu gΓΌn Limon KΓΌtΓΌphanesi’ni okudum. GerΓ§ekten Γ§ok akΔ±cΔ±ydΔ±. Okurken kaΓ§ kez aΔladΔ±ΔΔ±mΔ± bilmiyorum. 34 yaΕΔ±ndayΔ±m ve kitabΔ± sayfamda paylaΕΔ±p, tavsiye ettim dostlara. TΓΌrkiye de yaΕΔ±yorum. Okul ΓΆncesi iΓ§in bir hikaye kitabΔ± hayalim vardΔ±. Hikayesini bitirdim. Senin de okuyup fikrini almayΔ± Γ§ok isterdim. Eminim yorumlarΔ±n Γ§ok Εey katacak. Sevgilerimle. Nurcan
Dear Nurcan, I’m so glad you enjoyed A Library of Lemons! And how lovely that you’re writing your own books too. Sadly I can’t offer to help because I don’t read Turkish! But I wish you very much luck with it π Jo x
hello jo.
I’m writing from Turkey destiny.
I have now finished the lemon library.
It was a really impressive book.
I also love to read books, I hope I will have the opportunity to meet you one day.
Take care of yourself.
(βΏ^βΏ^)
Hi Ms. Jo I was read lemon library.It was nice and absorbing thank you for writed π
Hi HΓΌmeyra, you’re so welcome! I’m very glad you enjoyed it π
Didnβt you also win the tower hamlets book award for your amazing book βA libary of lemonsβ.
I did! It was an AMAZING day and I wrote about it here: https://jocotterill.com/2017/11/28/winning-the-tower-hamlets-book-awards/ Jo x
Oh, and I just realised you meant I missed it off my list!! Have just added it – thank you! π x
Good afternoon Miss! My name is Dariana, I’m 13 years old, I’m from Romania πΉπ© and yesterday I bought one of your books. It’s called Lemons, books and friends. I can say that I’m just like Calypso : alone, loves books, quiet but happy with who I am. I’m glad to read your book (imagine that one of my clasmate that hates books recommended to me) . I’m sorry if I’m bothering you with this message but I can’t believe the fact that I can talk to a writter and I just…wanted to talk to you! Have a good day Miss! βΊοΈ
With love,
Dariana
Dear Dariana
Thank you for your kind message! I didn’t know that in Romania my book’s title is Lemons, Books and Friends – I love that! In the UK it’s called A Library of Lemons. In Germany it’s called A History of Lemons. I’m so glad that you’re enjoying the book – and how funny that your classmate recommended it to you when they hate books! I feel very lucky π
Very best wishes to you, and I hope the sun is shining where you are today.
Jo x