Pippa Young was born in Luton in 1958. She lived in Luton, Blackheath, Bangkok, Cambridge and Brighton. She worked as a freelance designer, then set up a SPY Design (now SPY Design and Publishing Ltd.) in London in 1984. Between 1998 and 2002 she wrote and/or illustrated children's board books and novelty flap books for publishers such as Random House and Ladybird. From 2007 to 2012 she gained a first class BA (Honours) Degree in Fine Art from University College Falmouth. She is now an artist.