About me

Writer and teacher
I am a children’s author who has worked with many major publishers (see client list below).  Most of my titles are non-fiction (mainly science, the environment, history and general reference), but I have also been commissioned to write stories and plays. I’m experienced in creating and developing books from my own ideas or a publisher’s brief. For two days of the week I am also a primary school teacher.

From Barbie to bottle banks
The fashion doll Barbie was one of my first clients. I started out in PR with clients such as Mattel (makers of the famous doll) and Lyons Tetley (my knowledge of tea, coffee and Ready Brek is scary). I learnt to devise stories, to write to a brief and about the realities of the commercial world. Later I worked in PR for supermarket giant Tesco at a time when the environment became a mainstream issue – as it was when I became a journalist writing about the packaging trade.  Here I honed my research skills and wrote news stories and features.

Back to school
But I needed a change and I trained as a primary school teacher. I loved finding exciting, different ways to teach the curriculum.  This experience in presenting information entertainingly has helped me enormously in my work as an author. Now I mainly teach music. Two of my musicals have been published as plays.

After ten years in the classroom I went part time to return to my great passion of writing. My experience and skills found their perfect match in children’s publishing. I’ve devised my own series and really enjoy working with editors to create interesting books.

I am also a consultant on educational resources and I go to schools as a visiting writer – although it feels strange going into a classroom and not being the teacher!

Are you in this story?
It’s been an interesting journey so far. Maybe you are in the next chapter?

 

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