Born in Hong Kong and educated in the United Kingdom at a convent school and subsequently at Brighton College of Art, Meilo So very quickly established herself as a major illustrator in world markets. At a time when it appeared that very few new young illustrators had their own "voice", it soon became clear that here was a unique new talent, brimming with originality and certainty.
Her reputation is based on the freedom and fluidity of her style, which although oriental in it's feel, is allied to a western sophistication that makes it appealing and accessible to all ages and cultures. She was brought up in an artistic family (her father is a calligrapher) and her preferred medium is watercolour or ink, the apparent simplicity of her work masking the effort behind the constant reworking of her subjects, until she has attained exactly the freedom and spontaneity that she strives for. An inveterate draughtsman, her highly developed drawing skills ensure that she is seldom without a sketch book on her frequent travels, always producing a visual journal.
She has been drawing from about the time that she was five years old. Her father had a mannequin shop and she used to watch him painting eyes and lips on the models.
"I try to keep my life simple and I choose a simple, light-weight medium .."
Meilo enjoys using acrylics and recently gouache. She prefers a medium that she can make corrections with and because of her frequent travels has been influenced to carry fewer and fewer tools with her when it comes to work.

After leaving college and spending some time travelling around Europe with her sketch book, Meilo returned to Hong Kong where she lived in a small community on Lamma Island for three years with her English husband, while she continued to work on projects for British and American publishers. They later returned to the UK, settling on the South Coast before the birth of their daughter Ming. She and her husband recently purchased a small cottage in the Shetland Isles with the aim of spending the majority of their time there while Ming is growing up. A significant part of their year is usually spent too in a rented apartment in the Italian countryside where as part of the local community, they both continue their creative work.

Although her earlier books were aimed at an older age-group, there is no doubt that with the birth of her own daughter, Meilo's focus has changed and the production of books for a much younger audience has ensured that the range of her work has widened considerably. The list of her published books and publishers is formidable and she has successfully collaborated with a number of prestigious authors like Vikram Seth, Kevin Crossley-Holland, Jack Prelutsky and many others.

The collaboration with Jack Prelutsky has been a particularly productive one. The first book that they did together for Random House Beauty of the Beast, produced some spectacular work that sweeps across the page in Meilo's inimitable style and is a perfect juxtaposition of image and text. The individual animals are depicted with great individuality and wit and this title was followed soon after by the 20th Century Anthology of Children's Poetry, another stunning collection. Random House are her main publishers in the US largely as a result of her very close and productive relationship with Janet Schulman the doyenne of US Children's Book Publishing.