Tom Gates Turns 15 as Liz Pichon Reaches Book 25

The 25th book in Liz Pichon's children's series is called Tom Gates Is Not Famous (Yet), and the series is marking 15 years since its first book appeared in November 2026.

The series follows Tom Gates, a schoolboy whose notebooks and doodles have kept young readers turning pages for a decade and a half. The Guardian reported on 8 November 2026 that Pichon had sold 16.5 million books in 47 languages.

Pichon, who was 63 when the paper interviewed her, grew up in London and now lives in Brighton. She did not start writing until her mid-40s. Before that she designed album covers for Jive Records, the record label, a job that taught her to work closely with pictures and words on the same page.

The books have also travelled beyond the printed page. Pichon's Tom Gates work has been adapted for both the stage and the screen, so the character now reaches audiences who may never have opened a book.

Pichon's family life is part of the picture too. Her husband, Mark Flannery, is a songwriter and producer. Early in his career he worked as a studio runner for U2, the Irish rock band, a role that involves fetching equipment and keeping sessions running.

Pichon has another comic series, The Mubbles, which she also writes. Her work across books, comics and adaptations shows how one character can grow into several projects at once.

For readers, the milestone is simple. A series that began as a single book now has 25 titles on its list, and a new one has arrived for the anniversary. For booksellers and schools, a long-running series like this gives families a reason to come back to the same shelf, year after year.

Pichon's story is also a reminder that many children's authors arrive at the work by another route. Her path ran through record covers and design studios before she sat down to write a schoolboy's diary.