Anna grew up in a street with a gang of kids and spent her childhood sticker-swapping, playing pac-man and co-ordinating BMX displays. Later, she went to Oxford university to study French and Italian, and spent her year abroad at a mime school in Paris where she learnt how to climb an invisible wall, but did not learn a lot of French.

After her degree, Anna studied for a Masters in Advanced Theatre Practice at the Central School of Speech and Drama and has since worked on a number of devised theatre productions as a writer and director.

Anna has just completed a PhD in French women's writing at King's College London, where she also teaches from time to time. Now that her student card has well and truly expired, Anna is doing all kinds of odd-jobs (and jobs that are just plain odd) so that she can do what she likes best - making things and writing stories.

Anna's first picture book, DOGS DON'T DO BALLET, will be published by Simon & Schuster in 2009. She is currently working on a novel for readers aged 8+ and various other stories for publication.