Andrew Norriss was born in 1947, went to Trinity College, Dublin, and then became a school teacher because a woman called Mrs Morrison told him to. In 1982, another woman told him he should be a writer, so he did that instead, partly because of the money, but mostly because it means you can watch movies in the afternoon.

He lives in a thatched cottage in a little Hampshire village with a loving wife and two wonderful children, and life would be pretty near perfect if he could just get rid of the moles on the lawn, and his son didn't leave marmalade dribbling down the side of the jar so that it stuck on your fingers when you picked it up in the morning. He is the author of a number of books for children including The Portal, The Touchstone, Aquila and The Unluckiest Boy in the World.