Phoebe Wahl author page

Phoebe Wahl biography

Phoebe Wahl is an author-illustrator whose work focuses on comfort, nostalgia and intimacy with nature. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration. She works in watercolour, collage and fabric sculpture. Her picture books include Sonya’s Chickens, Backyard Fairies, The Blue House and Little Witch Hazel.

Sonya’s Chickens was published by Tundra Books in hardback on 11 August 2015 and later in paperback on 9 January 2018. The book is a 32-page children’s story about Sonya raising three chickens and learning about love, loss and the circle of life after one hen disappears. Wahl won the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award for Sonya’s Chickens.

Backyard Fairies was published by Knopf Books for Young Readers on 6 March 2018. The 32-page picture book follows a girl searching for fairies in her garden and nearby woods, with magical creatures hidden among flowers, trees and pebbles.

Little Witch Hazel was published by Tundra Books on 21 September 2021. The 96-page picture book is arranged as four seasonal stories in which Little Witch Hazel rescues an orphaned egg, goes sailing on a raft, investigates a haunted stump and visits forest dwellers who need care. Little Witch Hazel was selected as a 2022 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year.

Phoebe’s Diary was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on 5 September 2023. The 464-page young adult book combines fiction, text and art, and is based on Wahl’s own teenage diary.