Gillian Philip
Gillian Philip - was born in Glasgow, raised in Wishaw and Aberdeen, lived for 12 years in Barbados and is now happily settled in Morayshire with her husband, eight-year-old twins, one labrador, two sociopathic cats, and four nervous fish.
Gillian has been writing all her life, but for many years tried to avoid doing it for a living. Instead she worked as a record store assistant, theatre usherette, barmaid, sales rep, political assistant, radio presenter, typesetter, and as a singer in an Irish bar in Barbados.
Her short stories were published in the People's Friend, My Weekly and Woman's Weekly, but after the birth of her children in 2001, she bit the bullet and focused on writing novels full time. Young Adult fiction was an increasingly popular and quality segment of the market, but there was also a huge breadth of scope for different genres within it. Since she was torn between crime, contemporary, historical and fantasy, it was Gillian's ideal literary stamping ground.
BAD FAITH, a dystopian murder mystery which won the Pitlochry Award at SAW in 2007, was published by Strident in October 2008, and is currently longlisted for the North Lanarkshire Catalyst Award 2010. Bloomsbury published CROSSING THE LINE (winner of the TC Farries Trophy the same year) in April 2009, and it has gone on to be shortlisted for the Angus Book of the Year Award, and longlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Wirral Paperback of the Year, and the North Lanarkshire Catalyst Award.
FIREBRAND, the first in a series of fantasy novels about the Scottish Sidhe, which won the SAW Constable Trophy in 2007, will be published by Strident in August this year. Three further 'Rebel Angels' books are to be published in successive years.
Gillian writes short educational books for Evans Brothers, the schools publisher, including SEA FEVER,
LIFE OF THE PARTY, MIND'S EYE and CYBERFEVER. Under the pen name Gabriella Poole, she also ghostwrites the DARKE ACADEMY teen horror series for Hothouse Fiction Limited, published by Hodder.
She is currently working on a second book for Bloomsbury.
Her website is at http://www.facebook.com/l/a15ad;www.gillianphilip.com; and she contributes to the children's authors' blog An Awfully Big Blog Adventure. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter, far too much of the time.