Terry Pratchett was born in Buckinghamshire in 1948. From a very early age, he knew that he wanted to be a writer. His first story was published when he was 13, and he bought a typewriter with the proceeds so that he could quickly get on with the next one.

Terry was 17 when he left school and went to work as a journalist, but he continued to write books in his spare time. Success came almost immediately after the publication of his first book, The Carpet People, and he is now a best-selling author who writes for both adults and children. Terry is wholly professional about his writing and says that success is more about hard work than inspiration - although inspiration helps!

He now lives in Wiltshire. He has one ambition - he'd like to go to Mars!