A journalist for 40 years, I decided in retirement I would do something completely different,
something I’d never done in my professional career. Invent stories!
And oh, what fun I’ve had. How liberating an experience it’s been.
No longer constrained by hard facts and harsh reality, I have been free to let my imagination run
wild.
The further east I have moved in Kent - first from Maidstone to Whitstable and then to Ramsgate -
the more the shackles have come off.
Thanet district has been home since 2018, and Ramsgate’s history, its architecture and its people
have positively inspired me to create books for children. I believe it’s a town with ‘stories in its
bones’.
So, I set about creating a character that is familiar and admirable, yet mythical and mysterious at the
same time. A raven called Ravi emerged; a super-clever bird with a backstory to beat any reality TV
star. He was once a Tower of London raven who. Due to his mischief, was expelled from the elite
flock which, legend tells, must be at least six in number or else the kingdom will crumble.
When Ravi returns from exile, his avian pals advise him to make a fresh start in the seaside resort of
Ramsgate. And so, his adventures begin - in a town whose name comes from the Anglo-Saxon
phrase meaning ‘raven’s cliff gap’.
First in a trilogy of tales is “Ravi the Brainy Raven”, followed by “Ravi and the Tales of Tunnel Town”,
which is based on an elaborate underground network in which Ramsgate residents took refuge
during German bombing raids. In each book, Ravi solves a mystery.
The third book, about a raven ‘queen’, is due out later this year.
In between times, I wrote “Caress it like Messi” which is based on an 8-year-old called Rye who has
incredibly curly hair and is, like his older sister, fanatical about football. Rye’s problem is that he is
incapable of controlling the ball when it hits his corkscrew curls, as if it has landed on a trampoline
and takes off in any random direction. This leads to him getting called names, which upsets him.
The narrative focuses on how children can develop a thick skin and cope with the challenges of peer-
group bullying.