British author.
After working as a music journalist and running a magazine publishing business, he graduated as a mature student, at the age of 30, from the London School of Economics in 1986 with a degree in History and Politics. He then briefly worked as the editor of the London magazine ‘City Limits, a TV producer and a Sunday magazine feature writer.
His first book, a memoir, ‘The Scent of Dried Roses’ (1996) won the PEN/J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. It is now published as a Penguin Modern Classic. His next work, and first novel, ‘White City Blue’ (1999) won that year’s Whitbread Award for Best First Novel.
He was shortlisted in the ‘Best Novel’ category of the 2002 Whitbread Awards and the Encore Awards for best second novel for his work, ‘Rumours of a Hurricane’. He has since published The Love Secrets of Don Juan, The Seymour Tapes and ‘Fearless, a young adult novel for Walker Books, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction prize. His most recent novel is ‘Under the Same Stars’ (2012). His authored documentary on the class system, ‘The New Middle Classes’ was broadcast on BBC Four in 2008.
He is a prolific travel journalist, an occasional op-ed writer for the Independent on Sunday and a weekly columnist for the Guardian ‘Family’ section. He teaches the ‘Writing a Novel’ 6 month course at the Faber Academy in London. He lives in Kensal Green, North West London, and is married to Rachael Newberry, a lecturer in English. They have four daughters.
Link to Wikipedia biography