Susan Gates

Susan was born in Grimsby and was mad on Science Fiction and American Literature as a youngster. Her mother was a tailor and her father a professional guitar player. It is from her father that Susan acquired her love of live music! After studying English and American Literature at Warwick University Susan had a variety of unusual jobs including working on a mushroom farm before teaching in England and Africa for ten years. She finally found herself writing children`s books and has an impressive list of publications to her name.

Susan is an award-winning author having won the Sheffield Book Award for Beware the Killer Coat `Walker Books` of which Michael Rosen praised "A funny book hilarious!". Humanzee `Oxford University Press` was commended for the Carnegie Medal and short-listed for the Guardian Children`s Fiction Award. Raider was highly commended for the Carnegie Medal.

Susan lives in County Durham and is married with three children. When she is not at a live music gig or walking along the Northumberland coastal paths she can be found enjoying a glass of wine in her garden!