Jamila Gavin

Jamila Gavin was born in India andgrew up on the border between India and Pakistan. She first visitedEngland when she was five, and settled here for good when she was11.

Jamila went to loads of different schools but neverliked the discipline they imposed. She left as soon as she couldand went to the Guildhall School of Music, where she studied tobecome a concert pianist.

Though she never became a professional performer,Jamila continued to love music and she worked in the musicdepartment at the BBC before becoming a writer.

She wrote her first book when her children were bornbecause she realised that there were very few books that reflectedtheir experience of being multi-racial.

In later stories, and particularly in her SuryaTrilogy, she drew on her own childhood memories of growing up inIndia. In particular, the relationships between English and Indianfamilies at a time when India was becoming an independent country.

Jamila won the coveted Whitbread Prize for CoramBoy.