Chrissie Gittins was born in Lancashire and lives in Forest Hill in South London. She studied at Newcastle University and St Martin's School of Art, and worked as an artist and a teacher before becoming a freelance writer. She writes poetry, radio drama, short stories, and poetry for children. Her children's poetry collections Now You See Me, Now You... and I Don't Want an Avocado for an Uncle were shortlisted for the CLPE Award and three of her collections were Poetry Book Society 'choices' for the Children's Poetry Bookshelf. Two of her children's poems won Belmont Poetry Prizes in 2002. Her children's poems have been animated for Cbeebies TV and are widely anthologized. Her poem 'Death in the Poetry Library' features on the Southbank Centre audio tour.