Catchpole Agency

Eoin McLaughlin is an Irish children's writer, best known for his Hedgehog and Tortoise Hug picture books with Polly Dunbar. The series sold a quarter of a million copies. The latest, festive addition Merry Whatmas?, came out with Faber in 2023. Goodnight Sun, Eoin's latest picture book, is coming from Faber in 2024. Eoin was born in Ireland, grew up in the UK and currently lives in Mauritius.  After waiting impatiently for a really long time for his books to come out, he's had a busy few years watching a joyous glut of them burst into print. His debut The Hug saw the start of the creative partnership with illustrator Polly Dunbar. Hedgehog and Tortoise's first outing, a delightful and original flipbook, was translated into more than 25 languages. A sequel was in the early stages when 2020 happened... And so instead, a social distancing joke turned into While We Can't Hug. Capturing the mood of the moment, The Times described it as "an important historic record of the time". During that unexpected 2020 Christmas lockdown, the BBC broadcast Mr Tumble reading it on Christmas Day. As the world opened up, The Longer the Wait the Bigger the Hug followed. Now 2022 sees the fourth book in the series - The Roar. In which Tortoise is upended, cross, and strikingly familiar to parents of toddlers everywhere. Meanwhile, Eoin's Secret Agent Elephant, The Case of the Missing Cake, This Book is NOT a Bedtime Story and Inspector Penguin all finally became actual, paper books. And I Am Not an Octopus - a second book with Marc Boutavant - out in 2022. When not writing picture books, Eoin writes adverts and waters the plants. He's adept at wittering, okay at whittling and terrible at whistling. Eoin McLaughlin's represented by The Catchpole Agency.