I was born in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1968, and educated at Brentwood School, Essex, and Queens’ College, Cambridge, where I read Natural Sciences. I returned to Cambridge to study for a PhD in Developmental Psychology, which I was awarded in 1995. My writing has been published in several anthologies, including New Writing 11 and New Writing 14, and my books have been translated into seven languages. My awards include a Time to Write Award from the Northern Writers’ Awards and an Arts Council of England Grant for the Arts. I have taught creative writing, with a particular focus on psychological processes in reading and writing, in a variety of contexts around the UK, including a short course on Creative Writing and Psychology at Newcastle University. Between 2004 and 2006 I worked as a mentor on the British Council’s Crossing Borders project for African writers. I am a faculty member of the School of Life, and have appeared at festivals in Barcelona, Sydney, Durham, Newcastle and Sheffield. I work as a part-time Reader in psychology at Durham University.