I've had quite a few informal jobs. I've worked as:
* an unqualified teacher in a primary school (when I was 19)
* an assistant to a village baker (when I was 23)
* a childminder (when I was about 30)
* an assistant to a Member of Parliament (when I was about 32).
For eight years, I was a member of the committee which advises government ministers about public libraries. I have always used libraries a lot, and I think it's very important that public libraries should continue to be free and open to everyone. Reading and information are getting more and more important for everyone and libraries are essential for keeping in touch and keeping up to date.
I spend most of my time writing and looking after my family. I also edit the parish magazine in the village where I live, and I travel around quite a lot, talking to children and adults. (It's pretty hard to stop me talking.)
I've done quite a lot of travelling abroad to speak about my books. I've been to Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Brazil, Australia and Mexico, among other places. Wherever I go, I like to talk to people (of course) and to look at paintings and sculptures.
I write because I love telling stories and finding out about things. My stories don't have 'messages', but I like to write about people in difficult and dangerous situations. I'm interested in how they cope and the decisions they make.
Appearing (November 2009)
Durham (10th), Sunderland (11th)
Author Website
www.gillian-cross.co.uk/
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Recommended Reads
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Revenge of The Demon Headmaster OUP 978-0-19-275584-1 The villainous headmaster is back with a scary new plan! When Ingrid turns up at a SPLAT meeting she is raving about Hunky Parker, a new TV show. It's the latest craze, she says, and soon everyone will be hooked. The other SPLAT members disagree-until Ingrid shows them her Hunky video. Because once they start watching it, something weird happens . . . |
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Demon Headmaster Strikes Again OUP 978-0-19-275585-8 The fourth title in the hugely popular 'Demon Headmaster' series. Moving away to a quiet village seems like a fresh start for the Hunter family. Their dad has a new job and it seems like the perfect opportunity to forget all about the Demon Headmaster. But Dinah, Lloyd and Harvey quickly notice that the town isn't normal. When they investigate further they make a shocking discovery . . . |
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Demon Headmaster and The Prime Minister's Brain OUP 978-0-19-275583-4 A hypnotic computer game leads Dinah, Lloyd and Harvey to their old enemy, the Demon Headmaster . . .Things at school have been looking up for Dinah, Harvey and Lloyd since their defeat of the villainous Demon Headmaster. The pupils are acting normally, and their new headmaster seems perfectly ordinary. Then the arrival of a new computer game, Octopus Dare, with its competition to find the Junior Computer Brain of the Year, sends ripples of excitement through the school. Only Harvey and his friend Ingrid refuse to get involved. Because ever since the game arrived all the other pupils-even Lloyd and Dinah-have become obsessed with it. Suddenly everyone is competing to win, but it's clever Dinah who makes it to the final. And though she is fixated with the game, she doesn't like the way it makes her feel . . . it's almost as if she's being hypnotized. Too late Dinah realizes that she's being used to access the private computer files of the Prime Minister-the daring new target of none other than the Demon Headmaster! |
