Georgia Byng
Georgia Byng (born 6 September 1965) is a British children's writer, illustrator, actress and film producer. Early life. Georgia Byng was born on 6 September 1965, in London, England. She grew up in a village, Abbots Worthy near City of Winchester in Hampshire. She has three brothers and one sister. She is the elder daughter and second child of Thomas Edmund Byng, the eighth Earl of Strafford and his first wife, Jennifer May (daughter of Irish politician William Morrison May. Byng is the elder sister of Jamie Byng, publisher of Canongate Books. Through her late stepfather, Sir  Christopher Bland, Byng is the half-sister of Archie Bland, "Guardian" writer and sub-editor. Education. Byng was educated at Princess Mead School, Winchester, Nethercliffe School, Winchester then from 12 years old at Westonbirt School, an independent boarding school for girls in Gloucestershire. She went to Peter Symonds, a sixth form college in Winchester. From 1984 - 1987 she attended the Central School of Speech and Drama, a constituent college of the University of London in central London. Career. Acting. Byng worked as an actress from 1989 to 1990, appearing in the television series "Screen Two", "Dealers", and "Capstick's Law . Writing and illustration. While pursuing her acting career, Byng began writing comic strips, and illustrating. After her initial success in this field, she gave up acting to write full-time. Her first published book was a comic-strip story, The Sock Monsters". Byng's best-known work is "Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism", a book about a girl who finds a book about hypnotism and learns how to hypnotise people. In later books, Molly learns to use other powers such as stopping time, travelling through time, reading minds, and morphing into other forms. The sixth book in the  Molly Moon series was released in 2012. Byng co-wrote the screenplay for "Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism", the movie of her first book. Byng is with Caradoc King at London literary agency United Agents. Production. In 2015, Byng was the producer for "Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism", the film adaptation of her book. Personal life. Byng married Daniel Chadwick in 1990; they divorced in 1995. They have a daughter, Tiger, from this marriage, born 1990. Byng married artist Marc Quinn. She has two more children with him; sons, Lucas (born 2001) and Sky  (born 2005). They divorced in 2014. In March 2019 she became engaged to the bass player Guy Pratt. Publications. Selected works include: