I was born at Old Sarum, near Stonehenge, and I like to think it had some kind of influence over me – certainly I’ve always been fascinated by ancient stone circles.

I was brought up in Southsea. I loved living by the sea and I miss it now that I live in London – though I am quite near the River Thames, which helps.

I’ve wanted to write for as long as I can remember, but when I was young I didn’t for one moment think I would become a professional writer.

When I left school I worked in a shop for a while, then as a secretary. Later I moved to London and worked in publishing. All the time I was writing, and then throwing away everything I wrote because I knew it wasn’t good enough, but eventually I wrote 'The Spring on the Mountain' - and it became my first published book. (It has now been re-issued by Hodder in their Silver series.)

Since then, to my amazement, I’ve had more than fifty books published. One of them, 'Awaiting Developments', won the Whitbread Children’s Novel Award, the Friends of the Earth Award and was commended for the Carnegie Medal.

People often ask writers where they get their ideas, and I think it’s only ever possible to offer a partial answer. 'The Stones of the Moon' came about while I was wondering why so many stone circles have the same legend attached to them – that at certain times of year the stones go down to the water to drink …The idea for 'Lord of the Dance' came partly out of a witch bottle … 'The Burning' from the sight of a towering bonfire with the effigy of Guy Fawkes sending sparks into the dark sky …'Storm-Voice' from anger at a particular kind of mistreatment, and from thinking about the effects of guilt and memories.

I ‘ve also written non-fiction books for younger children, including a series called 'Up The Garden Path', about very small animals, and 'What Is A Wall, After All?', and two novels for adults, one of which, 'December Flower', was made into a television film and won The Christopher Award in America.

I have had four plays broadcast on Radio 4 and I dramatized Frances Hodgson-Burnett’s 'The Secret Garden', Philippa Pearce’s 'Tom’s Midnight Garden' and Rumer Godden’s 'The River', also for Radio 4.

When it’s going well, there’s nothing I’d rather do than write. When it’s going badly I prefer to go into my tiny garden and count the frogs in the pond.

Information supplied by Judy Allen - Last updated July 2003

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