Alan Parkinson

Alan Parkinson was born in Sunderland in the seventies and spent his formative years growing up in Southwick, later to gain the title of 22nd most deprived area in the UK.

A promising pupil in his early years at English Martyrs, he went on to be a less than promising pupil at St Thomas Aquinas and finally made his exit from the education system after an inglorious six week stint at St Aidan's sixth form. The reasons for his exit are still unclear however they are believed to have parted ways 'by mutual consent'.

Alan's working career started in 1986 in stationery/bingo/catholic repository store in Sunderland. He has had various roles since then including visual merchandiser, civil servant and managing software developers in Newcastle.

Alan was bitten by the travel bug in 1996 and lived in Australia for a year and he has been travelling on and off ever since.

He wrote his first novel Leg It in 2001 during a career break and finally published it 10 years later. Leg It has gained a cult following for its depiction of childhood in the eighties and also for a slight mishap with the paperback cover design. T-shirts with the offending cover have been spotted as far away as Embleton and Mexico.

In December 2015 Alan gave up his lucrative career in the software industry to become a full time writer.

His second novel, Idle Threats was released in August 2015.

His third novel, Life In The Balance was released in June 2017, Troll Life in October 2018, and Burying Reggie in November 2021.

Alan has also written plays including one based on his second novel, Idle Threats which was performed at the Westovian Theatre in 2018 and The Empty Seat at Arts Centre, Washington in 2020.

His monologue, Parting Shot, formed part of Sunderland Stories in 2020 and was shortlisted for a North East Culture Award.

It is available to view here. https://youtu.be/IEj0mQTNaWM

Alan is living in Sunderland and is currently working on adapting his novels for stage

He can be followed on his website www.alan-parkinson.com

on Twitter @Leg_It

and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/alanparkinsonauthor/