Although she was born in Gourock, and attended the Edinburgh College of Art, the highlands and islands of Scotland have always been Mairi Hedderwick's true home. In 1962 she settled on Coll, where she raised her family and taught art at primary school. Her first home on Coll had no electricity or running water, and the nearest neighbor lived two miles away. Mairi Hedderwick is the author and illustrator of the much loved Katie Morag series of children's books the first of which was published in 1984. Hedderwick has also written and illustrated several travel books, including Highland Journey and An Eye on the Hebrides.