Dan Smith

Born in 1970, the first eighteen years of my life were spent crossing the world in one life and being subjected to the rigours of a traditional English boarding school in another.

I’ve lived in many places including Sierra Leone, Sumatra, northern and central Brazil. I’ve even lived in Spain and in the Soviet Union, but now I’m settled in Newcastle with my wife and two young children to keep me on my toes. And, boy, do they keep me on my toes!

Past jobs have varied from dishwasher extraordinaire (or, perhaps, just ordinaire), social security fraud (detecting it, not committing it), to a fistful of mundane office jobs, but throughout all of those things, I’ve always kept writing. Like most other writers, I just can’t help it.

My first novel, DRY SEASON (2010), was shortlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2011, and was nominated for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The second novel, DARK HORIZONS (2011) was followed by THE CHILD THIEF (2012), RED WINTER (2013) and THE DARKEST HEART (2014).

I also love writing novels for younger readers. MY FRIEND THE ENEMY (2013) was long listed for the Branford Boase Award and received a special commendation at the North East Book Award. MY BROTHER’S SECRET was published in 2014, with BIG GAME following in 2015.