I was born within Newcastle and I spent light suit childhood years in a big Catholic family in Felling-on-Tyne. I had four siblings and a brother and lots of relatives in the roadways nearby. light suit dad had been in Burma during this war. He or she and light suit mum married inside late 40s. Papa became an office manager in an engineering factory. Mom was a shorthand typist until she had your children. We moved several when I was a infant, nevertheless always within Felling. Felling had been a coal mining city, nevertheless by the time I recall anything the pits were all closed. The river in the foot of the city was lined with warehouses together with shipyards. At the summit was a wild location we called the Heather Hills. light suit partner and i loved playing football inside fields above the village, camping out with light suit own friends, messing about with light suit grandfather in their allotment. I was an altar boy, together with I still know snatches with the Latin mass by center. I loved our local library, and dreamed of viewing light suit books on its shelves in the future. Favourite books as some sort of child/teenager included the tales of King Arthur and his knights, the catalogs of T. Lobsang Rampa, together with Hemingway's stories. I also useful to read light suit sisters' Enid Blytons. That i knew that I wanted to be a writer. One of light suit uncles had a little printing works. light suit own mum said that she useful to take me there as a baby and I used to laugh and point in the printed pages coming off the rollers - so probably I began to fall in love with print when I was just a few months old. I left for primary schools in Felling and Sunderland - both of which I liked. I went to grammar school in Hebburn - which i disliked. On the surprise of a lot of people (eg a several teachers and especially light suit headmaster) I went to the University of East Anglia and did a diploma in English and Us Literature. After stints as a hotel porter, postman and labourer, I trained to become a teacher. It seemed an excellent job for a author: limited hours, long excursions, what more could I'd prefer? How wrong I had been. As i wasn't just exhausted because of it, I also found it fascinating, and I learned a huge amount. As i worked five years in the primary school on a large estate in Gateshead. Although I was there, light suit own first short stories began to be published in bit of magazines. I needed longer to write, so i resigned and sold the house. I went to live in a commune based in the dilapidated mansion in a lovely part of Norfolk. As i lived for a year . 5 on a few hundred pounds and wrote light suit own first decent stories truth be told there. When light suit money ran out, I found their employment writing booklets for an adult literacy scheme. This concluded in light suit final teaching occupation, in a school for children with learning troubles. light suit own first book for young people, Skellig, was published with 1998. In advance of that, several short stories had appeared in magazines and anthologies, together with were broadcast on Radio 4. Two collections involving light suit stories for adults, Sleep deprived Nights (1985) and An Heaven (1997), were create by IRON Press, a little North Eastern publisher. I was editor of the fiction magazine 'Panurge' from 1987-93. I wrote a novel called Seances that took five years to jot down and was rejected by every publisher near your vicinity. Then Skellig came coupled. It seemed to come out of the blue, as if it absolutely was waiting a long time to be told. From time to time seemed to write itself. Considering Skellig, I've published several more children's novels: Kit's Backwoods, Heaven Eyes, Secret Center, The Fire-Eaters, together with Clay; and a collection of stories based on light suit childhood, Keeping track of Stars. light suit first picture book, Kate, the Cat and the Moon, illustrated by this wonderful Stephen Lambert, ended up in 2004. I also write for the theatre. light suit first children's play, Rough outdoors Girl, Wild Boy toured england in 2001. light suit stage adaptation with Skellig was produced in the Young Vic in 2003, with light suit play for younger children, light suit own Dad's a Birdman. Heaven Eyes was premiered in the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005. I live with light suit family in Northumberland. We stay just beyond the Roman Wall, which for centuries marked the place where civilisation ended and this waste lands began. My websites: When Is It Appropriate to Wear a Light Colored Suit?