Meet the authors
Bernard Smith
Bernard Smith has been a teacher and writer for 40 years, specialising for the last 30 in EFL. He has worked in South Yemen, Libya and Oman, teaching Arabic and English and writing teaching books and materials. He was Director of Studies of several ARELS schools in the UK, and was also Controller and principal author of the Oxford-ARELS oral examinations for twenty challenging and enjoyable years. After retiring from teaching, he continues to write EFL books on a freelance basis.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Learner English (editor, with Michael Swan)
- The Man from Nowhere (Cambridge English Readers)
Carolyn Walker
Carolyn Walker started teaching O and A Level English in 1973 and has taught EFL since 1975. She has an RSH Dip (1977) and an MA in Applied Linguistics (York University 1981). She has worked in Spain and UAE as an EFL teacher. Teacher training includes British Council Summer Schools in Exeter, Swansea, Manchester, and overseas in Algeria, Pakistan, Bulgaria, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Deadly Harvest (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Beast (Cambridge English Readers)
Colin Campbell
Colin Campbell has worked in English teaching for almost 30 years. He has been a teacher, teacher-trainer and consultant in a number of countries, including Poland, Spain, Italy, Ireland and England. He has also been involved in setting up language schools in Italy and Poland. Some of his favourite memories from his career are: co-hosting a Learning English television series for local television in Italy; recording Irish songs for a Children's coursebook in Poland; writing original readers for Cambridge University Press and, still, teaching students anywhere.
In addition to teaching, training and writing, Colin Campbell does voluntary counselling work in London.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Parallel (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Ironing Man (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Lady in White (Cambridge English Readers)
- What a Lottery! (Cambridge English Readers)
Jeremy Harmer
Jeremy Harmer is currently a course tutor and designer for the online MATESOL at the New School, New York, but he has taught extensively in both the UK and in Mexico, where he worked for many years.
As both a coursebook writer and the author of key titles on EFL teaching methodology, Jeremy is a frequently invited speaker at conferences and seminars all over the world. When not teaching, writing or travelling, his interests include listening to and playing music (he plays piano, guitar and viola with more passion, perhaps, than skill), and this obsession with music is reflected in his two readers for Cambridge University Press.
Cambridge University Press publications
- The Double Bass Mystery (Cambridge English Readers)
- Trumpet Voluntary (Cambridge English Readers)
Patricia Aspinall
Patricia Aspinall has a first degree in Education and an M.Phil in Linguistics from the University of Cambridge. After teaching English as a Foreign Language in schools and Colleges of Further Education, she joined UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) where she was responsible for running and developing EFL examinations including PET, FCE, CAE, and CPE. She is now a freelance author and language consultant and has written numerous books and other materials on language development. She specialises in books that prepare students for examinations such as the Certificate in Advanced English and the Business English Certificates.
Cambridge University Press publications
- The House by the Sea (Cambridge English Readers)
Penny Hancock
Penny Hancock has English teaching experience in Italy, Greece, Morocco and the UK. She also teaches in Primary schools and has run courses in creative writing for adults.
Her readers for Cambridge University Press address issues such as adoption, bereavement and prejudice within the romantic genre. Within High Fences was a finalist for the Extensive Reading Foundation award. Penny lives and works in Cambridge and has three children.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Just Good Friends (Cambridge English Readers)
- A Love for Life (Cambridge English Readers)
- Within High Fences (Cambridge English Readers)
- Love in the Lakes (Cambridge English Readers)
Sarah Scott-Malden
Sarah Scott-Malden studied French and Italian at Bristol University before moving to Italy for three years where she had her first teaching jobs in Pisa and Florence.
She took the RSA Diploma in TEFL and then took up a teaching post with the Bell School of Languages, at first in Norwich and then in Saffron Walden. She taught at the Saffron Walden school for eleven years before moving with her family to California. While with the Bell School, Sarah worked as a teacher and a teacher trainer.
Cambridge University Press publications
- A Picture to Remember (Cambridge English Readers)
Alan Battersby
Alan Battersby has taught at language schools in Italy and Cambridge and has always taken an interest in writing language learning materials. After completing a Master's in Second Language Materials Development, he decided to go freelance. Now resident in rural France, he divides his time between writing, gardening and DIY. He makes regular trips back to the UK to teach at Anglia Ruskin University.
His interests include travel, cookery and traditional music and he plays flute, banjo and mandolin. He takes a particular interest in learning about all aspects of life, culture and language of the United States, which he draws upon for his readers, all written in American English.
Cambridge University Press publications
- East 43rd Street (Cambridge English Readers)
- High Life, Low Life (Cambridge English Readers)
- This Time it's Personal (Cambridge English Readers)
Alan Maley
Alan Maley has been in the field of TESL for over 40 years. After being at the University of Leeds under Peter Strevens in the early 1960s, he worked as an English Language Officer with the British Council for over 25 years. His career took him to places as diverse as Yugoslavia, Ghana, Italy, France, P.R. China and India.
He left the Council in 1988 to take over as Director-General of the Bell Educational Trust in Cambridge, where he stayed for 5 years. Between 1988 and 1992 he was the Chair of IATEFL and was very active in promoting links with other teachers' associations worldwide, especially in Central Europe. In 1993 he took up a position as Senior Fellow in the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore, where he stayed for 5 years.
He subsequently set up and directed the Master's programme in ELT at Assumption University Bangkok. (1999-2004).
He currently divides his time between work asVisiting Professor at Leeds Metropolitan University, writing, short-term teaching assignments, mainly in SE Asia, and freelance consultancy work.
He has been active in the field of publishing for many years, especially in the area of resource books for teachers. At present he is working on a study of the phenomena of repetition and reformulation in language teaching.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Drama Techniques (2005, 3rd edition) (with Alan Duff, Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers)
- A Tangled Web (Cambridge English Readers)
- He Knows Too Much (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Best of Times? (Cambridge English Readers)
Antoinette Moses
Antoinette Moses is a writer and playwright. Her plays have won several competitions and have been produced or received rehearsed readings in Norwich, Cambridge, Ipswich, London and Paris. Her books range from media studies and poetry to a guidebook to Athens, where she lived for four years. Antoinette teaches creative writing at the University of East Anglia where she is working on a PhD on verbatim (documentary) theatre. She has also worked as an editor, journalist, film festival director and for music and poetry festivals. Two of her Cambridge English Readers have won awards from the Extensive Reading Foundation: Let Me Out and Jojo's Story, which has been described by one reviewer as 'one of the most important books of all time'.
Cambridge University Press publications:
- Apollo's Gold (Cambridge English Readers)
- Dolphin Music (Cambridge English Readers)
- Frozen Pizza and Other Slices of Life (Cambridge English Readers)
- John Doe (Cambridge English Readers)
- Jojo's Story (Cambridge English Readers)
- Let Me Out (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Girl at the Window (Cambridge English Readers)
- Book Boy (Cambridge English Readers)
Brian Tomlinson
Brian Tomlinson has a BA from the University of Liverpool, a PGCE in ESL from the University of London, an MA in ESL from The University of Bangor and a PhD from the University of Nottingham.
He is a Visiting Professor at Leeds Metropolitan University and a member of the British Council English Advisory Group. Previously he was a Curriculum Specialist at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, a Reader at Leeds Metropolitan University, where he was Head of the English Research, Projects and Consultancy Unit and a Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore, where he was the Chair of a number of MA modules and Coordinator for Language Research. He has also worked as a teacher trainer or curriculum developer in Nigeria, Zambia, Vanuatu, Indonesia, Japan and the UK, and he was Course Manager of the MA in L2 Materials Development at the University of Luton. He is also President of MATSDA, the international materials development association which he founded in 1993.
He has given presentations to teachers in over sixty countries and he has published more than sixty articles and more than thirty books.
His interests are in materials development for language teaching, language awareness, language through literature and the development of reading skills. He is researching the potential roles of visualisation and inner speech in the acquisition of a foreign language and he has published a number of articles on these topics
Cambridge University Press publications:
- Materials Development in Language Teaching (editor)
- Superbird (Cambridge English Readers)
David A Hill
David A Hill trained and worked as a primary school teacher in the UK before moving into ELT; he has an M.Phil in Applied Linguistics from Exeter University. David has taught EFL full time in Italy and Serbia, and worked for the British Council for 18 years, 12 of which as the Council's state sector teacher trainer for Northern Italy. Since 1998 he has worked out of Budapest as a freelance consultant, travelling annually to around 10 different countries for work with students, teachers, teachers' associations, ministries and the British Council. He has worked for IATEFL since 1988, holding various posts in the Association, and is currently the Coordinator of the Literature, Media and Cultural Studies SIG. His main interests within ELT are the teaching of young learners and teenagers, materials development, literature in language teaching and teacher training. David spends half of his year writing educational materials.
Outside the ELT world David is a published poet and translator of poetry and a naturalist who has written many articles for professional journals on ornithology and botany. He plays guitar, piano, harmonica and sings in a gigging blues band, and is also a performer of traditional English folk song. He is an expert on Art Nouveau architecture and design, and is especially fond of William Morris.
Cambridge University Press publications
- A Matter of Chance (Cambridge English Readers)
- How I Met Myself (Cambridge English Readers)
Frank Brennan
Frank Brennan comes from the North West of England and is a graduate of the University of Wales. He has worked as an actor and writer in a theatre group for schools before going on to teach English and Drama in secondary schools both in the UK and in Singapore.
He has edited books of short stories and plays; written literature guide books for secondary students; written short stories for Cambridge and other publishers and is currently working on a new work of fiction. His interests include music, history and cinema
Cambridge University Press publications
- Circle Games (Cambridge English Readers)
- Tales of the Supernatural (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Fruitcake Special and Other Stories (Cambridge English Readers)
- Three Tomorrows (Cambridge English Readers)
- Windows of the Mind (Cambridge English Readers)
- Tasty Tales (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
George Kershaw
George Kershaw has been teaching English for over thirty years in Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia (including Thailand) and the Pacific regions. For the last decade or so he has been a lecturer with the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, UAE.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Nothing but the Truth (Cambridge English Readers)
Helen Naylor
Helen Naylor has taught English to adults for over 30 years in language schools in the UK. Currently, she's working as a freelance writer and has published books on grammar and Cambridge exam preparation. She also works as a writer and examiner for Cambridge ESOL on many different papers.
When she's not working, Helen's interests include playing tennis, skiing, being by the sea and food – cooking it and eating it.
Cambridge University Press publications
- In the Shadow of the Mountain (Cambridge English Readers)
- Two Lives (Cambridge English Readers)
- When Summer Comes (Cambridge English Readers)
- One Day (Cambridge English Readers)
Janet McGiffin
Janet McGiffin lives in Athens, Greece. She writes mystery novels, travel articles and grant proposals for small non-profit organizations (NGO) based around the Mediterranean. Currently she is public-education publicist for a 12-country European Union cultural grant involving conservation of ancient artifacts made of gold, silver, or copper.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Emergency Murder (Cambridge English Readers)
- Murder by Art (Cambridge English Readers)
Jania Barrell
Cambridge University Press publications
Jania Barrell has worked in English language teaching for over 30 years. After studying literature at Essex University, she began teaching English in Cambridge, where she got her Diploma in TEFL. She then worked for the British Council in Milan, Rome and Kuala Lumpur, before returning to the UK and working at the Bell Language School in London. Here she worked as a teacher, teacher trainer and Courses Coordinator before becoming a free-lance teacher and examiner for Trinity College London. Jania lives in Cheam, which is just south of London. She is interested in politics and gardening and loves reading, especially detective stories. She has just finished working on a translation of a book about a Tibetan line of teachers.
- But Was it Murder? (Cambridge English Readers)
Judith Wilson
Judith Wilson worked overseas teaching English in France, Zambia and Saudi Arabia for 15 years before returning to England to live in Cambridge. From 1987 to 2003 she worked as a teacher and teacher trainer near Cambridge, and she is now a freelance writer and exams consultant.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Staying Together (Cambridge English Readers)
Julia Newsome
Julia Newsome is now a writer. After taking a BA in Drama at Manchester University, Julia taught EFL in Athens for 22 years. She wrote and commissioned teaching materials for local schools and later joined Heinemann as a commissioning editor. She took the RSA TEFLA at the British Council there. Since leaving Greece in 1995 she has been a freelance translator, editor, publisher and materials writer for Penguin and Longman among others, and has continued examining and teaching EFL. She has lived and worked in Belgium, Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe, and now concentrates on writing fiction and scripts.
Her other interests include travel, exploring Cumbria (where she now lives) and rural Greece, and volunteering at Shakespeare's Globe.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Nelson's Dream (Cambridge English Readers)
- Dragons' Eggs (Cambridge English Readers)
Mandy Loader
Mandy Loader went to Paris to teach EFL soon after getting her first degree in English. Two years later she travelled across Siberia to Tokyo, where she taught for two years – and met her future husband. She then taught in Morocco for several years, during which time she did a lot of windsurfing, got an MA in Applied Linguistics and had her first child. Back in the UK, she settled down to raising her brood and freelance writing. She has written numerous language books and courses, but particularly enjoys writing readers. In a dull moment between projects, she qualified in Basic Skills and has taught ESOL and Adult Literacy in the UK, as well as providing training in the government-funded Skills for Life initiative.
In her free time Mandy loves sailing, gardening and travelling, preferably somewhere warm.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Eye of the Storm (Cambridge English Readers)
- Amazing Young Sports People (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
Margaret Johnson
Margaret is a writer, artist and teacher who lives in Norwich, Norfolk with her partner and their young son. She is a graduate of the renowned Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia and has written plays, screenplays and children's fiction as well as six Cambridge English Readers. Whatever she writes, Margaret likes to try to include some humour and says, 'the biggest thrill of all is making people laugh.'
Cambridge University Press publications
- All I Want (Cambridge English Readers)
- Different Worlds (Cambridge English Readers)
- Jungle Love (Cambridge English Readers)
- Murder Maker (Cambridge English Readers)
- Next Door to Love (Cambridge English Readers)
- Wild Country (Cambridge English Readers)
- Gone (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
- New Zealand (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
- Running Wild (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
- Big Hair Day (Cambridge English Readers)
- Quick Change! (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
- Parties and Presents (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
Michael Austen
Michael Austen has spent most of his career in ELT, as a teacher, teacher-trainer and school manager. After teaching in Senegal, West Africa, Finland and Portugal, he spent a long period working for the Bell Language School in Norwich, where he lives. He now combines teaching with exam-writing and assessing. He is employed part-time by INTO UEA and also works as an examiner for IELTS, Skills for Life, and IBO. He is an exam-writer with Cambridge ESOL.
Michael has also been a keen writer for most of his life and is a published fiction author.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Berlin Express (Cambridge English Readers)
Philip Prowse
Philip's interest in reading began in Egypt in the early 1970s when as a British Council Officer he developed materials to support class readers. His British Council career also took him to Portugal, Greece and Poland. Returning to the UK at the start of the 1980s he became Principal of a large residential language school and teacher training college in the UK, leaving in the early 1990s to become a freelance trainer and materials writer.
Throughout his career he has written teaching materials including major primary, secondary and adult courses, as well as a number of highly-successful readers. He has run training courses and spoken at conferences in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. Philip is the series editor for Cambridge English Readers. He is also Reviews Editor of the English Language Teaching Journal.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Activate your English (with Barbara Sinclair)
- Don't Stop Now! (Cambridge English Readers)
- Double Cross (Cambridge English Readers)
- Help! (Cambridge English Readers)
- Why? (Cambridge English Readers)
Richard MacAndrew
Richard MacAndrew has worked in ELT for over 35 years. He has taught in Finland, Sweden, Malaysia and Great Britain. He has been a freelance writer since 1996, writing a number of readers for the Cambridge English Readers series, as well as a variety of books for other British and American EFL publishers.
His interests, other than writing, include walking in the Yorkshire Dales, listening to the music of Jerry Garcia, reading numerous detective stories and thrillers, and watching Scotland play rugby – preferably in his favourite city, Edinburgh.
Cambridge University Press publications
- A Death in Oxford (Cambridge English Readers)
- A Puzzle for Logan (Cambridge English Readers)
- Blood Diamonds (Cambridge English Readers)
- Inspector Logan (Cambridge English Readers)
- Logan's Choice (Cambridge English Readers)
- Strong Medicine (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Lahti File (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Penang File (Cambridge English Readers)
- The University Murders (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Black Pearls (Cambridge English Readers)
- A Little Trouble in Amsterdam (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
- A Little Trouble in the Yorkshire Dales (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
- Scotland (Cambridge Discovery Readers)
- The New Zealand File (Cambridge English Readers)
- Not Above the Law (Cambridge English Readers)
Rod Neilsen
Rod Neilsen started teaching English as a foreign language in Brighton, England in the early 80s, and continued teaching in Saudi Arabia, Colombia and Brunei. He settled in Brisbane, Australia in 1995, where he taught and trained teachers before beginning a Ph.D which investigated EFL teachers experiences in non-English speaking cultures. Now he lectures in language studies at Queensland University of Technology, but a guitar (or several) is never too far from his side.
Cambridge University Press publications
- The Sugar Glider (Cambridge English Readers)
Sue Leather
Sue Leather has been in the ELT field for thirty years. Originally from the north west of England, between 1985 and 2000, she worked as a teacher, teacher trainer and educational manager in Spain, UK and the Netherlands. She has an MA in Education from the Institute of Education, University of London. She has written a number of articles for ELT journals and magazines, and is a frequent presenter at international conferences.
Sue has been writing original learner fiction since 1990, and is now also an editor. In 2000, she set up her own consultancy group and now works on educational projects all over the world. Her main interests within ELT are materials development, teacher training and trainer training. Her Cambridge readers ‘The Big Picture’ and ‘The Way Home’ were nominated for the Extensive Reading Foundation Award. ‘Dead Cold’ won the award in 2005. Sue is now resident on the beautiful west coast of Canada, where she gains inspiration for her work.
Cambridge University Press publications
- Bad Love (Cambridge English Readers)
- Dead Cold (Cambridge English Readers)
- Death in the Dojo (Cambridge English Readers)
- Dirty Money (Cambridge English Readers)
- Hotel Casanova (Cambridge English Readers)
- Just Like a Movie (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Amsterdam Connection (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Big Picture (Cambridge English Readers)
- The Way Home (Cambridge English Readers)