New Zealand Cambridge School Dictionary

Meet the authors

Nicholas Tims (Series Editor)

Nick Tims

Nicholas Tims began his ELT career teaching in Lisbon, Portugal, in the days when Microsoft Word took a full three minutes to load. Undeterred and working for a schools which eschewed the use of course books, he set about writing materials appropriate for his students. Returning to the UK in the mid 1990s, he undertook a Cambridge DELTA and a Masters in ELT. His (unfinished) dissertation, which stares at him daily from the corner of his desk, is on the gap between teachers' beliefs and practice. Through publishing positions at both Oxford and Cambridge University Press, where he commissioned and worked on secondary and adult courses, and the Cambridge English Readers series, he eventually defined his dream job: writing ELT materials. As a freelance author, he has now written over 20 titles for primary, secondary and adult learners in Europe, South America and Africa. He is also the Series Editor for the Cambridge Discovery Readers. Nicholas lives in London with his partner and young daughter.

Other Cambridge University Press publications

David Morrison

David Morrison

David Morrison was born in Gateshead in the North East of England and went to university in Swansea, Wales. He has worked as an English teacher in France and Spain and, more recently, as an editor of teenage fiction and textbooks. He has a special interest in South America and is currently working on a screenplay set in Mexico. He is also trying to finish his first full-length novel and is a keen road cyclist.

Cambridge Discovery Readers

Frank Brennan

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.

His publications include collections of original short stories and plays, a novella and various books for schools.

Cambridge Discovery Readers

Cambridge English Readers

Jane Rollason

Jane Rollason always wanted to write but didn't have the confidence to start when she was younger. She studied history at university and read lots of newspapers – the best hunting grounds for a writer. Years in publishing kept her close to books, before someone asked her to write one herself. She has written fiction and biography, and adapted many classic and contemporary stories for EFL learners.

Cambridge Discovery Readers

Helen Everett-Camplin

Helen Everett-Camplin

Helen Everett-Camplin has worked in the field of ELT for over 20 years, as tutor, writer, researcher and examiner. She has a first degree in French Studies and an MA in TEFL. Her research into the psychology of second language learning has led her to design specialist course materials for a range of learners and to write and contribute to publications on good practice. In addition to freelance writing, Helen continues to deliver training programmes in the UK at Further and Higher Education level and also works as an assistant examiner and oral assessor for Cambridge ESOL.

Cambridge Discovery Readers

Louise Clover

Louise Clover

Having cut her teeth as a researcher in BBC Radio and then on ITV's 'This Is Your Life', Louise Clover went on to become a multi-award winning television producer primarily of light entertainment and children's programmes. She was then appointed to make an array of educational programmes for Channel 4 using the genre of popular culture to appeal to students, i.e., game shows, animation, puppets and situation comedies. Most recently she wrote and directed 'Extra'; a series of sit coms for modern language learning in French, German and Spanish before going on to make an ELT version in Italy. 'Extra' received an RTS and a Basel Karlsruhe Award as well as a BAFTA nomination.

She has written for Cambridge's face2face series and is now concentrating on writing novels. She lives in Hove with her husband and two children.

Cambridge Discovery Readers

Mandy Loader

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 Discovery Readers

Cambridge English Readers

Margaret Johnson

Margaret Johnson

Margaret Johnson 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 Discovery Readers

Cambridge English Readers

Nicholas Murgatroyd

Nicholas Murgatroyd

Nicholas Murgatroyd has taught English in the Czech Republic, Spain and Mexico. After working as an editor at Cambridge University Press, he completed an MA in Novel Writing at the University of Manchester, where he is now studying for a PhD in Creative Writing. His fiction has appeared in Transmission and Penumbra magazines and been published by Arehouse Press. Nicholas also teaches part-time at the University of Bradford, and has written several resource books for Cambridge.

When he's not busy with all of this, he enjoys playing squash and football, and regularly loses his voice when watching Bradford City play football.

Cambridge Discovery Readers

Other Cambridge University Press publications

Richard MacAndrew

Richard MacAndrew

Richard MacAndrew has worked in ELT for over 30 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 Discovery Readers

Cambridge English Readers

Tim Herdon

Tim Herdon

Tim Herdon has twenty-four years of experience in teaching, training and school management. During his career he has taught English in England, Spain and Japan, working in both private and public education. Tim is based in Valencia, Spain, and now works as a freelance education consultant. He is involved in various ELT teacher training projects, travelling regularly to Europe, Russia and Brazil. Recently Tim has worked on CLIL training projects at both primary and secondary level in England, and with a number of teacher centres in Spain. He also writes course book and exam material and readers.

Cambridge Discovery Readers

Jump to catalogue

Starter Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 (Coming soon)