Cheltenham Racecourse

John Dougherty

Appearing: 2015

John Dougherty.

John was born in Northern Ireland, and discovered the joy of reading whilst trying to avoid school work! In early secondary school, with a group of friends he took to writing and illustrating comics - mostly about insects, since they were easier to draw than people - and from there, he began writing other pieces of silliness. In the sixth form - when he really should have been revising for his A-levels - he took up the guitar, and quickly began to direct his creative energies into songwriting, with the occasional bit of poetry thrown in.

During the next few years John somehow made it through university, acting in a number of plays while he was there. He also formed a band and spent quite a bit of time trying to get a foothold in the music business in London.

In the early 1990's John trained as a primary school teacher, a job he did for over 10 years. In this role he read lots of kids books and rediscovered his love of children's literature. Reading soon led to writing, and after a while he began sending stories to different publishers. His first book, Zeus on the Loose, came out in 2004 and was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award for ‘an outstanding first novel for children’. His most recent title is the highly popular Stinkbomb & Ketchup-Face and the Badness of Badgers.

John now lives in Stroud with his wife and two children. John will be reading from Stinkbomb and Ketchup Face.