Biographical Sketch

Bernard Ashley was born in 1935 and lives in south east London, just a few streets away from where he was born. For many years he combined writing with being Headteacher of a London junior school. He now writes full-time.

He was evacuated to Preston during the war, did National Service in the RAF, trained to be a teacher at Hertford and Cambridge, and taught for a while in Kent, before returning to the Thames-side area of London which is also the setting for many of his books.

He had his first novel, The Trouble With Donovan Croft, published in 1974. This was followed during the 70s and 80s with successive novels which gained him the reputation as a 'gritty' writer in sympathy with the underdog.

Strong characters and plots made Ashley's work the perfect vehicle for television and there have been several TV adaptations, including Break In The Sun and Dodgem. Running Scared actually began as a screenplay and was then turned into a novel.

Ashley began writing shorter books for younger and reluctant readers during the 80s, and for the past ten years has concentrated on this audience, producing series such as 'Clipper Street', 'Dockside School', and 'City Limits'. His one longer novel of the past ten years was the critically well-received Johnnie's Blitz, based on Ashley's own wartime experiences.

Twice short-listed for the Carnegie Medal, Bernard Ashley deserves further recognition for the body of realistic but hopeful work produced over the past quarter decade.