Spawn

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi Bear

Biography

I am an only child and I spent much of my early childhood in my parents' fabulous antique shop and picture gallery. This cabinet of curiosities, filled to the brim with intriguing objects and mysterious portraits of severe strangers robed in colourful fabrics and marvellous hats,
was an excellent place to spend time.

Witch Ball

The stuffed animals in glass cases, the old coins, postcards, misty mirrors, witch balls and boxes of buttons all seemed to have stories to tell. Objects form the background texture of my imagination.

When I was twelve years old we moved to a hill farm in the Black Mountains in Wales. This isolated, rural place further fuelled my imagination; the farm is linked somehow to the fundamental elements of fairy tales: forests, animals, ancient winding paths, ruined cottages in the woods, ghosts, open fires, rivers and mist.

	Woodland Ruined Cottage

I am sure this is why I ended up writing a book about fairy tales, in a biography of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz.

I studied at Art College and University in London before doing postgraduate research at Oxford University (Masters and Doctorate). I am a freelance writer. I am dyslexic. This has profoundly shaped my experience of the education system and my approach to writing. I regard the way I think, which includes dyslexia, as advantageous to my development as a writer.