Utentecandygourlay

I stopped reading adult books for many years while I was trying to learn how to write for young people. So my library is filled with children's fiction - I love humorous middle grade with a rich emotional seam - like the writing of Frank Cottrell Boyce (Millions) and Jenny Valentine (Broken Soup). I love beautiful lyrical writing - like the writing of Geraldine McCAughrean (The White Darkness). I love huge worlds with real, contemporary characters like the Hunger Games and the short stories of Ray Bradbury. The adult authors that wow me tend to have a strong voice and cover emotional ground that touches me - like Amy Tan's mother-daughter books and Nick Hornby's warm, unflinching comedies. I recently picked up a book by John Steinbeck and fell in love.

I'm a Filipino author living in the United Kingdom in a house full of rugby-mad men and stacks of books. I'd always wanted to write novels but discovered writing young fiction after failed attempts to publish picture books when my children were babies. My debut novel TALL STORY - a middle grade book about a boy who is eight feet tall - was published in 2010. It was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for 11 prizes! It won the Crystal Kite Prize for Europe - a prize given by members of SCBWI of which I'm an ardent member.