Magdalen Nabb was born in the Lancashire village of Church in 1947 but lived in Florence, Italy, for most of her life. In 1975 she threw in her job as a potter, sold her house, her car, her pots and brought her young son to Italy, knowing nobody and speaking only English.
She created the irrepressible and much-loved character Josie Smith in 1989. The first book Josie Smith was runner-up in the Guardian Young Fiction Award and Josie Smith and Eileen won the Smarties Prize. She also won the Smarties Prize in 1995 for The Enchanted Horse.
Both her adult and children books have been translated into many languages, including French, German, Japanese, Flemish, Danish, Dutch and Hebrew.
Magdalen Nabb passed away on the 18th of August 2007.
Magdalen Nabb was born in the Lancashire town of Church in 1947. She studied both art pottery and in 1975 she moved to Florence, Italy, and started work as a potter. She started writing crime thrillers for adults whilst in Italy and then began writing for children with her Josie Smith series. In 1995 she won the Smarties book prize for The Enchanted Horse.
