I'm an author and book editor from London, and I love to write stories where all children, no matter their background or family set up, can easily imagine themselves as the main character. I wrote my first book, The Pirate Mums, when I struggled to find picture books featuring families that looked like mine: with two mums, rather than a mum and a dad. My books are all very different - adventures, mysteries and quests - but they have one thing in common: the underlying message that it's absolutely fine to be a little bit different. 

 

Some of my favourite children's and YA books are Queen Munch and Queen Nibble by Carol Ann Duffy, Matilda by Roald Dahl, the Carry On trilogy by Rainbow Rowell, and The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb. 

 

I love to visit schools and literary festivals, and share my books onstage with children. And I also thoroughly enjoy interviewing other authors onstage. I've chaired events with the likes of Juno Dawson, Dean Atta, Neil Gaiman, Chris Riddell and Michael Rosen. 

 

In my day job, I work in non-fiction publishing for grown ups, and often write articles for newspapers, magazines and online. I am also the Chair of Judges of the Children's and Young Adult category of the Polari Prize, the only award in the UK to recognise LGBTQ+ writing. 

 

Outside of work, I love running (messily), reading (really quickly), swimming (outdoors if possible), dancing (badly but usually with sheer abandon), eating delicious food (and cooking it too, sometimes) and seeing the world. 

 

I live in East London with my wife and our twin daughters.