Barry Upton

I was born in London in 1950. After training in Yorkshire, I taught English, Drama and Media in schools throughout England and have written a number of technical publications on Arts and Technology as well as plays and musicals.

My first novel - Going Home – was published in paperback and as an e-book in 2014 a sort of homage to my mother who had grown up in London's East end and who had died in 2009 short of a history.

I spent a year living and working in Malta which was the inspiration for a novella The Balcony, published in 2015; and a second Balcony appeared after a short stay in Tenerife in 2017.

The Academy was published in 2016, drawing on my experience of many years as teacher and school leader. There is more than a touch of cynicism about its protagonist, and is told in several voices recalling their lives in a single day which revolves around The Academy.

St Swithin’s Day is his first dystopian novel. Inspired by my two grandsons’ love of reading adventure stories this is a coming-of-age tale for all ages to enjoy. The tale spreads across forty days of rain. The first twenty days form Book One: The Questor. Book Two: New Order follows on from where it left our characters.

Details of all my books can be found on my website: https://barryuptonauthor.com

Other published writing includes a trilogy of classroom plays based on the stories of The Brothers Grimm which have subsequently been adapted into musicals.

Piper! – The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Chorus! – The Musicians of Bremen

Spin! – Rumpelstiltskin

Details of these can be found at www.musicalgrimm.co.uk