Tim Walker

Tim Walker turned to writing children’s novels at the age of 45 and is the author of the Fizzle trilogy — a series of action-adventure stories comprising Shipley Manor (Faber, 2007), The Flying Fizzler (Faber, 2008) and Rise of the Rattler (Faber, 2009). The books, described as ‘full of thrilling cliffhangers’ (the Financial Times) and ‘sharp and funny’ (the Irish Times), finally allowed Tim to unbottle his thoughts on everything from corporate greed to religious extremism, and he feels much happier for it.

Since beginning work as an RLF Fellow, and with the additional support of an Authors’ Foundation grant, Tim has completed the manuscript of his fourth novel, The Last Bo-Peep. This follows the fate of two children in Bhopal, India during the weeks prior to the fatal gas leak at the Union Carbide Pesticide Plant in 1984. As a young designer Tim was working on a pesticide sales leaflet for Union Carbide when news of the disaster came over his radio — a minor link with the event, which has inspired him to write about it 30 years later.

During his earlier career in design, Tim was a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and contributed articles to Creative Review, PR Week and Design magazine, as well as writing and subediting copy for clients of his communications consultancy Walker Izard. Today, in addition to his RLF role, he works as a visiting author in schools while continuing to write for children from his garden shed in Kent.