I was born and grew up in London, studied English at Birmingham University, then endured a series of jobs (record shop manager, architect’s dogsbody and psychiatric hospital laundry worker) before training as a teacher in Oxford.

I spent twelve years teaching in an 11-18 comprehensive in Oxfordshire, leaving in 2007 as Head of English and Senior Teacher in order to teach part-time and write during the gaps. I now live in mid Wales with my partner, three children, two dogs, one cat, one horse and seven chickens.

In 2004 I began writing for Heinemann, working on the Edges KS3 course book. A number of Heinemann titles later, my first play for schools – Free! – was published in 2008. A novel – Eg and Me – and a second play – Fast - will be published in 2011. Recently I’ve been working on Heinemann’s flurry of GCSE titles for AQA, WJEC and Edexcel supporting the new specifications.

I am currently planning a novel, writing a series of stories for a KS3 reading intervention programme, a course to help Year 9 build the skills to succeed at GCSE, and a series of Teacher Guides for novels written specifically for reluctant readers.