Anne Fine was born in Leicester. She went to Wallisdean County Primary School in Fareham, Hampshire, and then to Northampton High School for Girls. She read Politics and History at the University of Warwick and then worked as an information officer for Oxfam before teaching (very briefly!) in a Scottish prison. She started her first book during a blizzard that stopped her getting to Edinburgh City Library and has been writing ever since. Anne Fine is now a hugely popular and celebrated author. Among the many awards she has won are the Carnegie Medal (twice), the Whitbread Children's Novel Award (twice), the Guardian Children's Literature Award and a Smarties Prize. She has twice been voted Children's Writer of the Year at the British Book Awards and was the Children's Laureate for 2001-2003. She has written over forty books for young people, including Goggle-Eyes, Flour Babies, Bill's New Frock, The Tulip Touch and Madame Doubtfire. She has also written a number of titles for adult readers, and has edited three poetry collections. Anne Fine lives in County Durham and has two daughters and a large hairy dog called Harvey.