Morris Gleitzman was born in England in 1953 and moved to Australia with his family in 1969. He studied journalism and began his writing career as a screenwriter for television comedy. Gleitzman’s first book, The Other Facts of Life, started out as a screenplay which he turned into a novel. Gleitzman found he could get closer to the characters’ thoughts and feelings in a book than in a film and so began his career as a novelist. His other books for children, to name but a handful, include: Two Weeks with the Queen (1989), Misery Guts (1991), Second Childhood (1995), Water Wings (1997), and Boy Overboard (2002), all of which have been adapted for the stage. His most recent books include; Once (2006), Give Peas a Chance (2008) and Then (2009), which was awarded the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award: Younger Readers. Gleitzman’s books are aimed primarily at readers aged 8 to 12 and he is known for his tough subjects, presented in a humorous and offbeat style. He is also a well-know columnist and writes regularly for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Melbourne Age, and for Young Telegraph. Mr. Gleitzman has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding advisory body.