Name Deborah Chancellor | Role Writer | |
 | ||
Books Tiger tales and big cat stories, Holiday!: Celebration Days Aro, Train Journey, I Am an Optician, Traveling on land | ||
Deborah Helen Chancellor (née Mowbray born 7 July 1966) is an English writer; to date, she has written over 70 books.
Contents
Background
Chancellor (née Mowbray) is the second of four girls. She attended The Broxbourne School, Hertfordshire, from 1977 to 1984. She read Modern & Medieval Languages at Newnham College, Cambridge from 1985-1988.
Writing career
Chancellor is a children's writer of fiction and non-fiction. Her work includes Harriet Tubman (A&C Black, 2013), Code Breakers (Barrington Stoke, 2009), Escape from Colditz (Barrington Stoke, 2007) and two collections of illustrated children's stories, I love reading Phonics (Octopus Publishing, 2012) and Reading Heroes (Parragon, 2008). She has adapted 365 stories from The Bible (Children's Everyday Bible, Dorling Kindersley, 2002).
Chancellor’s non-fiction ranges from historical biography to topical issues (Moving to Britain, Franklin Watts, 2008) to matters of general interest (Everything You Need to Know, Kingfisher, 2007). She has written extensively for a variety of publishers, and has been translated into several languages.
Chancellor has written over seventy children's books. She has a particular interest in writing for older children with reading difficulties, writing for Barrington Stoke, an award-winning independent publisher leading the way in this field.
In December 2012 she appeared in the BBC's Christmas University Challenge where teams of alumni battled for the coveted trophy.
Chancellor trained as a primary teacher before becoming a children's book editor at Dorling Kindersley. She speaks at book festivals and literary events. She lives near Cambridge with her husband, three children and dog, Hattie.
Awards
Being a Vegetarian (2009) won the UK section for the Gourmand World Cookbook awards in the vegetarian book category and came second in the world category.
In 2012 Chancellor was part of the Newnham College, Cambridge, team that took part in a special Christmas edition of University Challenge, along with Labour MP Diane Abbott.
Literary Fellow
In 2009 Chancellor became a fellow of the Royal Literary Fund. She was the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge, her alma mater, from 2009-2012.