Rose Fyleman

Born in Nottingham in 1877, Rose Fyleman became one of the most successful children’s writers of her generation. She studied in Nottingham and trained for a career in singing before turning to writing, a shift that helps explain the musical, spoken-aloud quality of much of her verse.

She wrote prolifically across poetry, fiction, and plays for young readers, publishing more than sixty books. She is especially remembered for fairy poems, and her best-known piece, "There are fairies at the bottom of our garden," became widely loved and was later set to music by composer Liza Lehmann.

Fyleman was also a skilled linguist who translated children’s books from German, French, and Italian. She died in 1957, but her work remains an inviting doorway into the imaginative, fairy-filled side of classic children’s literature.