I graduated from Manchester University in 1995 with a degree in Comparative Religion, a disappointing lack of spiritual enlightenment and a much-improved cross cultural perspective on life!

Later, when my son was two years old, I finally followed the dream I’d had since I was a little kid of going to drama school - Birmingham School of Acting (BSSD as it was known then). Drama school was fabulous and fun  - like ordinary school but with all the interesting lessons and none of the boring ones. It was also hard work, cramming the training into a one-year intensive course, commuting everyday and looking after a toddler. I will be forever grateful to my parents for allowing me that fantastic opportunity, most especially my brilliant Mum for keeping my son so happy during the long hours that I was away. After training, acting (mercifully) became my ‘proper’ job and for the past four years I’ve specialized in children’s theatre, in particular interactive theatre-in-education (which involves performing and facilitating workshops in schools around subjects such as relationships, bullying and alcohol).

Devising and performing in plays for teenagers triggered my memory banks and aided by diaries and stories I’d written at the time, I found that I was fortunate enough to have a strong recall of those special years. My fascination with this age group gave me the impetus to write for and about, them.

Many cultures acknowledge and celebrate this transitional age through rites of passage: conversely my own culture increasingly seems to label teenagers as, at best; wayward, or at worst; the ASBO generation. In a small way, I aim to try to redress the balance.

It’s my belief that our young people of today are smarter, more perceptive and tolerant than ever before and I approach my son and two stepdaughters’ adolescent years with hope and curiosity (and well, perhaps just a touch of trepidation..!)