Author and illustrator. Born in Burntisland (Fife), the daughter of a shipwright, Paterson was educated at Burntisland Primary School followed by Kirkcaldy High School, having moved with her family to Kirkcaldy at the age of 12. She trained at Edinburgh College of Art and went on to work as an art teacher, eventually settling in Edinburgh to teach at Craigroyston High School. She has produced a successful series of more than thirty children's books based around the character Morningside Maisie, beginning with Maisie comes to Morningside in 1984 and later adapted for television. Her books were born out of tragedy; her son died of leukemia in 1980 at the age of eleven. Paterson was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2015.
