Although I've lived for most of my life in north London, I was born and grew up in South Wales. My mum read to me a great deal,and I think it was from her that I developed my love of language. I also enjoyed drawing and painting, and eventually won a scholarship to study at Dublin College of Art.

When I came back from Eire, I first worked as a teacher in a Rudolf Steiner school. Then I came to London and took a number of strange jobs, including reading aloud to a blind writer and typing out his manuscript. The typewriter I'd hired to do this had some paid-for time left, so I used it to write a short story which I sold to a women's magazine. It became the first of many, and the beginning of a successful career. While my children were growing up, I stopped writing, and started a small design business, making screen-printed puppet theatres, flying saucers and playhouses that looked like medieval battle tents.

Work took us to Paris, where we lived for two years, and where, incidentally, I first encountered the Romanian gipsy girl who features in my novel, For Maritsa with Love.

My first children's book, The Time Tree grew out of a story I told my daughter and her best friend to pass the time on a very long walk (the original idea came from a TV programme I'd watched about teaching children with hearing problems). The girls begged me to write it down so that they could read it for themselves - so I did. This book is currently being marketed as a film series by Wild Thyme Productions.

To Summon a Spirit , was one of the Pick of the Year titles listed in the Children's Book Award. I'm now published in the USA and Australia as well as the UK, and my work has been translated into Danish, German and Japanese.

My first book for Franklin Watts was Plop City, a book about bird poo which continues to be loved, especially by small boys. I have two copies of the Arabic version

Tiago Americo is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator based in Montreal, Canada. He graduated in Graphic Design at UTFPR, Brazil and worked in the animation industry for several years, receiving awards for his animated short-movies Cafè La Rochelle and The Chance and the Butterfly.

Since 2010, Tiago has worked full-time as an illustrator, creating children's books, greeting cards, wall decals, posters and game concepts for clients across the globe. He has illustrated several titles for Campbell, including the Under the Sea sticker book and Dinosaurs and Jungle, part of the My First Touch and Find series.