Claire Philip runs Get into Children’s Publishing alongside her work for Three Wishes. She is an experienced children’s book editor, author and publishing trainer and 2026 mentor for Creative Access. You can see some of the books she has written at the bottom of this page!

Early Career in Children's Publishing

Claire began her publishing career in 2008 after graduating from the University of Kent with a degree in English Literature. She started at children’s book publisher Miles Kelly, now part of HarperCollins, as editorial assistant and was soon managing her own projects – one of the first was an extremely long poetry collection. Claire still vividly remembers commissioning hundreds of illustrations for that project! 

Over eight years at MKP, Claire worked on picture books, children’s fiction anthologies and non-fiction titles for children aged 0–12 years. She gained extensive experience as a book editor managing all kinds of topics across multiple formats. Some of her favourite titles from this time include a book on giant structures around the world in collaboration with the Discovery Channel, a wildflower detective handbook and a book that converted into a fire station – she got to look around a fire engine as part of her research!.

Moving to London

In 2016, Claire moved to London to work for Weldon Owen, which was part of Bonnier Books UK. She started as a book editor for their Bear Grylls list then moved over to illustrated non-fiction. Here she gained more experience writing children’s books as well as editing and project managing.

Freelance Work

A few years later, Claire began working as a freelance children’s book editor and writer. Since then, she has written close to 50 books for children’s publishers, covering topics from dinosaurs, gardening and recycling to women in science, wellbeing and even magic! Her work includes picture books, activity books and even a fully developed chapter book. 

Alongside her editorial and writing work, Claire has completed courses on inclusivity and neurodiversity. She has carried out numerous inclusion reviews for publishers committed to creating diverse, representative books. She has worked as a freelance editor and writer for dozens of publishers, including DK, Quarto, Moon + Bird, and Little Gestalten. She is also one of the co-founders of Gingerbread Moon Creative, a group of creatives who offer freelance editorial and design support to publishers.

Why I Created This Course

When the pandemic abruptly paused Claire's freelance work in 2020, she took it as the moment to finally create the training course she had always hoped to develop. She had always been been passionate about supporting new starters and interns, helping them build confidence and find their place in children’s editorial, so it was now or never! So she went for it and two people signed up straight away!

Helping New Editors Succeed

Since then, Claire has helped around a dozen people take incredible steps in their editorial careers, including participants getting job offers from Penguin, Hachette, Igloo Books and Pearson. Head over to the testimonials page to read more.

Fun Facts About Claire

Claire lives in the beautiful Lake District with her husband and son. While she loves hiking in the mountains, she is most definitely a fair weather walker.

She has completed a 300-hour yoga philosophy training and has trained as a women’s circle leader and a doula. Currently, she is working with a group of local doulas and midwives to bring back village prenatal groups in her local area.

Claire has two goats, twenty chickens and a beautiful black lab! With her husband, she grows lots of veggies and flowers – her favourites are dahlias!