Jamila Gavin was born in India and grew up on the border between India and Pakistan. She first visited England when she was five, and settled here for good when she was 11.

Jamila went to loads of different schools but never liked the discipline they imposed. She left as soon as she could and went to the Guildhall School of Music, where she studied to become a concert pianist.

Though she never became a professional performer, Jamila continued to love music and she worked in the music department at the BBC before becoming a writer.

She wrote her first book when her children were born because she realised that there were very few books that reflected their experience of being multi-racial.

In later stories, and particularly in her Surya Trilogy, she drew on her own childhood memories of growing up in India. In particular, the relationships between English and Indian families at a time when India was becoming an independent country.

Jamila won the coveted Whitbread Prize for Coram Boy.