Abigail Balfe

Abigail Balfe is a queer auDHD author-illustrator, and Emmy award-winning creative based in Brighton. She is the author and illustrator of This is NOT the Diary of Izzy Dobson, the first book in a funny, heartfelt and highly illustrated diary-style series about a neurodivergent twelve-year-old who doesn’t yet know she’s autistic and has ADHD.

Abigail’s first book, A Different Sort of Normal, was Puffin’s lead non-fiction title of 2021. This full-colour illustrated memoir for readers aged 8+ explores her experience of growing up undiagnosed autistic with warmth, humour, and honesty. The book was longlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award (Best Book with Facts) and shortlisted for Children’s Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2022. A Different Sort of Normal was included in the 2022 Read for Empathy collection, BookTrust’s School Library Pack 2022–23, and the National Literacy Trust’s 2023 World Book Day scheme, gifting it to over 500 schools across the UK.

A Different Sort of Normal has also been translated into Vietnamese, Hebrew, and republished in the USA and Canada under the title A Different Kind of Normal. The US edition received a starred review in the School Library Journal, and a double-page spread in the New York Times.

Before writing and illustrating books full time, Abigail spent 12+ years leading digital marketing campaigns for some of the biggest TV & entertainment clients in the world including Sony Music, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Netflix. Abigail used to run One Direction's social media accounts and accidentally posted a photo of her guinea pig to their Twitter. Luckily no one found out. Until now.

Abigail’s work often crosses platforms and in 2020 she won an Emmy award for devising and executing an Instagram Story sex education ‘book’ for Netflix animated coming-of-age comedy series, Big Mouth. The project, which won in the Outstanding Derivative Interactive Program category, was said to rival sex education programs in schools.

In 2023 Abigail was named one of the Top 50 Influential Neurodivergent Women in the UK.