ALL ABOUT ALAN DAPRÉ

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MY FAVOURITE BOOKS

What do the Superman And Batman Annual and The Guinness Book of Answers have in common? They’re the only books I possess from my childhood in the care system. One thrilled with its action and adventure. The other filled it full of surprising facts.

I lived in noisy, busy children's homes, and found comfort in books. Each new story took me to wonderful worlds, away from the chaos around me.

MY FIRST STORIES

So stories and books have always meant a lot to me. I didn't set out to be an author. It just happened. Story ideas popped into my head and I would write them down. No stories have survived my time in care. I was never given my school work to keep at the end of each year – so anything I wrote in class is long gone.

The only handwriting I have is written in the front of my Superman And Batman Annual. Five words - and one of them is love. That makes this book very special.

Alan grew up in Kent and went to school in Sandwich, near Ham. Afterwards, Alan moved to Gotham. He didn’t see Batman but did graduate as a Primary School teacher. Later, he became a Deputy Headteacher.

Buzzing with story ideas, he finally left school in his mid-thirties and became a full-time writer. Sixty-three books so far.

Alan moved to Scotland where his daughter was born. He writes at home and Alan's journey to work is 10 seconds from the biscuits in the kitchen. He now has a lovable rescue dog called Max who stars in his own picture book! My dog Max