Historical House: Josie Under Fire

About Ann Turnbull

I was born in Hertford, England and brought up in Bexleyheath, which was then in Kent but is now part of Greater London. I have always loved books; my childhood favourites were the Narnia stories by C S Lewis and Kipling’s Jungle Books. By the age of ten I had decided I wanted to be a writer. Paper always seemed to be scarce in those days, but I used to write stories on the unused pages left in old school exercise books, or even on the backs of opened-out envelopes. In my early teens two things happened that helped me to feel like a real writer: my parents bought me my first typewriter – a second-hand Underwood - and I went in for a short story competition and won a place at the Writers’ Summer School at Swanwick in Derbyshire.

After leaving school I worked as a secretary for many years. Later I began training as a teacher, but decided teaching was not for me. However I read children’s novels as part of my course and was inspired to try writing one myself. My first novel was published in 1974, and since then I have written thirty books for children and young people of all ages.

My hobbies are reading, dancing, singing, and walking in the countryside. I am married, with two grown-up children, and now live in Shropshire.