Hi Everyone! I am a multi-genre author because I am a multi-genre reader. I love books and have piles of them in every room that are read, being read and to be read! Everything well-written gets my attention. My favourite books include: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs What Katy Did by Susan M. Coolidge I have written all of my life, or at least from when I was able to hold a pencil. I started typing my first novel at the age of two (on a typewriter I was gifted by Santa) and just never looked back. At the age of 12, I won a coveted Blue Peter badge for writing a script for the BBC's Grange Hill. The excitement at having my name announced on the show was one of the highlights of my life! At 15, I was a regular gossip columnist for Gay News Magazine, alongside my lifelong friend (author and screenwriter) Jane Goldman, which started after we interviewed cute boys who were more interested in publicity than us (and gay)! It was a learning curve! I also worked with a number of national UK newspapers and magazines, providing celebrity snippets - writing a regular column for MIZZ Magazine - as well as having Piers Morgan as a colleague during my brief stint at The Sun, when working with showbiz columnist Rick Sky. At the ripe old age of 22, I came 2nd in a Write A Blockbuster competition for a national women’s magazine, after writing and submitting a story in the last few hours before the competition closed. In my mid-twenties, I helped my aforementioned friend Jane Goldman with some research for her bestselling 'The X-Files Books of the Unexplained,' which was fun...and an eye-opener! I was also a fundamental member of the team behind one of the UK's fastest-selling cookery books. It was a TV tie-in with the BBC's Challenge Anneka for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. We sold over 250,000 copies almost instantly. Apart from having a passion for writing, I also have an immense passion for photography (mostly nature/wildlife, and travel/landscape) and am proud to share that I am a Saatchi Artist of Recognition for photography. Before I dedicated my life to creating books, I was a successful Celebrity Producer working on shows on both sides of the Atlantic, after many years running my own Celebrity and Entertainment PR firm, with clients including Eric Clapton, Dame Shirley Bassey and Yes. Wishing you much enjoyment from reading books, whoever wrote them! Toula x
