Courtney grew up in East Texas and passed the hot summer days reading, drawing, watching She-Ra and exploring her grandma’s farm. She doodled constantly through elementary, middle and high school but didn’t think about art as a career until a fateful art history class at The University of Texas at Austin. After transferring from Government to Studio Art, she moved to the east coast and started pursing a career in childrens’ books where she could combine all of her favorite things.
She now lives in Northern VA with her husband and three kids and is the author/illustrator of several picture books, Maya was Grumpy, Dragons Rule, Princesses Drool, Fairies Don’t Fight and Dinosaur Days (2026, author only) She has also co-written and illustrated a picture book with her sister-in-law, Sanyukta Mathur, titled Happy Diwali! and illustrated It’s Holi! which Sanyukta wrote.
Courtney also makes paper maché and polymer clay figures, ornaments, original acrylic paintings and more. (See shop link above)
To see what she’s up to lately, follow her on Bluesky or Instagram @pippinmathur and sign up for her newsletter here.
For inquiries about book illustration, please contact her agent, Jennifer Unter
Family
Courtney @ age 6
Still doesn’t like having her photo taken.)
At a favorite independent bookstore, Island bookstore in Duck, NC