Anne Forbes
BRAW network:
yesLL funded:
yesBiography:
I was born and brought up in Edinburgh and, like my parents, loved reading. I studied at Boroughmuir and at the end of the school day, often visited Fountainbridge Public Library which almost became my second home given the amount of time I used to spend there. Like most book-addicted youngsters, I wrote stories of my own but, as so often happens, my writing slipped by the wayside when I started a teacher-training course at Moray House. After several years at Drummond Street School, I applied for a post overseas and was employed by the Kuwait Oil Company (then Gulf/BP). Since then, I have quite happily lived between Scotland and Kuwait. Once married, I gave up teaching but it was only when my daughter left home for university that I felt the urge to put pen to paper once more. Unearthing a story I'd written many years previously, I read it through with fresh eyes and realising its possibilities, set to work on the plot. Thus 'Dragonfire' was born. I now write full-time, whether in Scotland or Kuwait and, given that I've been well and truly bitten by the writing bug, the Dragonfire series looks set to continue for some time to come ...
About writer's work:
Humour has always appealed to me and the idea of faeries living inside Arthur’s Seat (a hill in the middle of Edinburgh) with a dragon for company offered, as you can imagine, limitless opportunities to indulge in anything from the fantastic to the downright ridiculous. In many ways, it was a fortunate scenario to have chosen for the addition of magicians, monsters and magic carpets to a plot firmly set in present-day Edinburgh has resulted in quite a prolific story line. Dragonfire, therefore, has turned out to be the first in a series of light-hearted fantasy adventures involving Neil and Clara, who live on the slopes of Arthur’s Seat, and their friends, the MacArthurs, the magic occupants of the hill who, with Arthur, their dragon, involve them in all sorts of magic, mayhem and totally mind-boggling adventures.
About writer's events and projects:
Living in two countries means that I am only able to give talks to children at schools, libraries and festivals between the months of May and October. As a former teacher, I am eager to foster a love of books among children of all ages and to encourage their own writing by discussing ideas, plots, characters and use of description etc.
Language:
EnglishAge groups:
9-12Books written
"Well, I didn't ask to be a pigeon! ...I wanted to be an eagle, didn't I?...Why couldn't we have been eagles instead of pigeons? What a life! Nothing but cooo, cooo and peck, peck, all the ...
From its secret underground streets to the top of Arthur's Seat, the city of Edinburgh has been the inspiration for many children's books and writers. This unique guide will help children and adults ...
On the eve of his return to Scotland, Lewis Grant is dared to spend the night at the haunted desert oasis of Al Antara. But things don't go according to plan and on ...
'Strange as it may seem, as he came in to land at Edinburgh Airport last year, the captain of the London flight reported sighting a dragon...' A year on, and life has calmed down for Neil and Clara ...
