Graham Joyce was a multiple award winning British author. He was born and grew up in the mining village of Keresley near Coventry. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in education at Bishop Lonsdale college, an MA in English and American Literature at the University of Leicester and in 2004 was awarded a PhD in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University.

In 1988 he quit his job in international youth work and decamped to the Greek island of Lesbos, where he lived in a beach shack with a colony of scorpions, to concentrate on writing.

He sold his first novel, Dreamside, while living in Greece and travelled in the Middle East on the proceeds. He went on to write fourteen novels, five young adult novels, and an autobiographical book about his experiences as goalie for the England Writers' football team. He also wrote numerous short stories.

During his writing career Graham won many awards. His book The Facts of Life won the World Fantasy Award for best novel. He was also five-times winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel; twice winner of the French Grand Prix De L'Imaginaire; and the winner of the prestigious O Henry award for his short story 'An Ordinary Soldier of the Queen.' In 2008 he was awarded the Honorary degree of Master of Letters by the University of Derby.

He continued to write and teach creative writing at Nottingham Trent University until his death in 2014 at the age of 59.

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