Magdalen Nabb was born in the Lancashire town of Church in 1947. She studied both art pottery and in 1975 she moved to Florence, Italy, and started work as a potter. She started writing crime thrillers for adults whilst in Italy and then began writing for children with her Josie Smith series. In 1995 she won the Smarties book prize for The Enchanted Horse. She passed away in 2007.
