Melvin Burgess was born in London in 1954 and was brought up in Sussex and Surrey. After leaving school at eighteen he began training as a journalist. He then had occasional jobs, mainly in the building industry. He started writing in his twenties and wrote on and off for fifteen years before having his first book The Cry of the Wolf accepted for publication by Andersen Press in 1990. He is now regarded as one of the best writers in contemporary children's literature. Burgess's books are not always easy; dealing with tough subjects such as homelessness, disability, child abuse, witchcraft and drugs. His play, Junk, won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. He now writes full time and lives in Lancashire. He has two children, Oliver and Pearl.