Sue Purkiss was born in Derbyshire, read English at Durham University and taught the subject in Leicestershire and Somerset. More recently she has worked with young offenders, and for the last two years with students at Exeter University, where she has been a Royal Literary Fellow.
Her first book, Spook School, was published by A & C Black in 2003. Her most recent ones, Warrior King and Emily’s Surprising Voyage, are historical fiction published by Walker.
She had a thoroughly enjoyable time writing Twelfth Night, which was the first Shakespeare play she ever saw, in a production at the school she went to in Ilkeston. Viola is definitely her favourite character, but she rather likes Antonio, too; he’s obviously a good man to have around when times are hard!