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Ian Whybrow spent most of his working life in secondary education, mostly as Head of English and Drama and later as Head of Sixth Form before he took up writing full time.

With the publication by The Bodley Head of the first of The Sniff Stories in 1989, he received rave reviews. Andrew Davies announced in The Times that “a major talent has arrived” and his writing career took off. Since then, Sniff has materialised in four books and an equal number of BBC radio broadcasts. In March 1999 they were re-published as lead titles by Hodder, in a lively new paperback format with illustrations by Tony Ross.

One of a very small number of children’s writers to have topped the best-seller lists, Ian has written over 100 children's books and is published in 27 languages in 28countries. He ranks No. 10 among all writers borrowed in UK libraries and is the sixth most borrowed children’s author. His work includes pop-ups books and picture books like Quack Quack Quack (Walker) - now in 7th edition; Little Farmer Joe (Kingfisher); the famous Harry and Bucketful of Dinosaurs series (Puffin);  The Tickle Book and the Say Hello…series(Macmillan). Popular stories for middle-junior readers include A Footballer Called Flip (one of a series of  ten Books for Boys - Hodder) and the best-selling Little Wolf series (Harper-Collins)  The SNIFF series (Hodder) and The Unvisibles (Holiday House) are for 11/12 year-olds.  He has also been widely published as a poet.

Best known for his inventive and original humour, he is a fine observer of children’s language and behaviour and always writes with adult readers as well as youngsters in mind. He has a brilliant ear for voices and takes pride in the fact that his work reads aloud very well. “I loved being read to as a child,” he says. “And I loved the sense that my mother and father were enjoying themselves too. For me, that's the acid test for any good book -that there's something in it for everyone to enjoy.

Little Wolf’s Book of Badness is regularly shown as an animated Christmas Special on Channel 4; the cartoon-version Harry and Bucketful of Dinosaurs is broadcast worldwide. Theatrical adaptations have been made of Little Wolf, Harry and Bucketful of Dinosaurs and How The Beautiful Big Fat Smelly Baby Found a Friend.

In 2009, the best part of a million copies of Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs Go to School has been distributed free to children starting school across the UK country through the Booktime programme.

Apart from his wife and daughters, his passions - in no particular order - are: Herefordshire in the UK, where he retreats to write in a deeply rural Victorian villa; digging; walking with friends; swimming; cycling (especially in France); the poet Stevie Smith; the theatre; books, films and hedgehogs.