BBC7

Catherine Storr lived in London for most of her life. She studied for her English Literature and Medicine degrees in Cambridge. She practiced medicine for fifteen years, but always wanted to be a writer.

Catherine wrote her first children's books for her three daughters. Her classic collection of stories Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf was written for a small Polly who was scared of the wolf under her bed. Catherine quickly discovered that she must not tell the stories aloud first, as if she did, she couldn't be bothered to write them! So she had to write in order to discover what happened next.

Marianne Dreams was filmed as The Paper House in 1990. The If Game was published in 2001.

She wanted to write for children because she said they share her enjoyment of a story and understand that fantasy and reality are not opposites - but in fact different ways of looking at the same thing.