Alan Temperley was born and grew up in Sunderland. Leaving school at sixteen, he joined the Merchant Navy and has sailed as deck hand and ship's officer. After a spell in the RAF he studied at Manchester and Edinburgh Universities and became a teacher of English in the Highlands. As an author he has won several awards, his books are in seventeen languages and two have been adapted into award-winning TV series, Harry and the Wrinklies and The Magician of Samarkland.