Chris d'Lacey
Chris is known for his numerous contributions to children's fiction - in particular, his first novel Fly, Cherokee, Fly, which was highly commended for the 1999 Carnegie Medal. However, he is probably better known for his popular series, The Last Dragon Chronicles (also called The Fire Within series), which chronicles the adventures of David Rain and his quests to save the tear of the last dragon, Gawain, and protect dragonkind. His favourite book of the series is The Fire Within, which he originally began as a surprise present for his wife Jay fifteen years before it was published!
Chris lives with his wife in Devon, England, and now writes full time.
Author's Comment: Some writers start scribbling stories as soon as they are old enough to hold a pen. I thought pens were for chewing while you tried to get the perspective right when drawing football nets. Apparently not. Sometimes children say to me, "Were you dead good at stories at school?" The answer is no. I was rubbish! My English teacher once told me that I didn't have a creative thought in my head. I think they must have been hiding in my socks. Incredibly, I was 32 (ancient, eh?) before I wrote my first children's story. And I didn't write another for seven years. Then a friend told me about a competition to write a story for young children. I wasn't going to have a go at first - until I found out the first prize was £2000. So I started scribbling, fast! I didn't win (boo!) but I sent the story off to a publisher and they accepted it. It was called A Hole at the Pole.
Nationality: British