I was the only child of a Polish
father and an English mother. I wanted to be an author from
the age of four, and spent my childhood writing about wild horses
fighting to the death in the Australian outback, despite never
having been there. I went to art school, like a lot of rebellious
misfits, and studied fine art.
I
then had two daughters, taught part-time, and started writing
radio plays and short stories. A sudden urge to get back on
the other side of the desk led to a creative writing MA at Bath
Spa. I have won several prizes, including the Cardiff International
Poetry Competition, and the Canongate Prize. I have also judged
competitions myself. Although I have had children's stories
serialised in Aquila magazine, The Divide was my first
full-length work of fiction for children.
The daughters are now grown
up. The eldest is a personal trainer (with a website here), and the youngest ihas a PhD in dung
beetle ecology.
I try very hard to spend my
time travelling to outlandish places, and watching wildlife,
and I've illustrated natural history books. Here's a list of countries I've visited:
Austria,Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Costa
Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador (including Galapagos),
Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Iceland,
India, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi,
Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Scotland, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switerland,
Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, Wales, Zambia.
During 2006 I appeared on
TV - both BBC News 24 and BBC Breakfast - discussing the legal
dispute about The Da Vinci Code.
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childhood snapshots
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