Whitwell, T: Gin Palace

Tracy Whitwell was born, brought up and educated in Gateshead in the north-east of England. She wrote plays and short stories from an early age, then had her head turned, and like the ungrateful wretch she's always been, she ran off to London to be an actress. By 1993 she was wearing a wig and an old-fashioned dress and pretending to be impoverished on telly in a Catherine Cookson mini-series, whilst going to see every indie/rock band she could afford.

After an interesting twelve years messing about in front of the camera and traveling the world, Tracy discovered she still loved writing and completed her first full length play KABOOM! A son, many stage plays, screenplays and a music video followed, until 2012 when she realized she was finally ready to do the one thing she'd longed to do since she was six. She wrote her first novel, The Accidental Medium - a crime/horror/comedy tale about an alcohol-soaked, gobby, thrill-seeking actress who talks to ghosts. (Who knows where the inspiration came from . . .)

Tracy now lives in north London, is working on screenplays and making her own short films, and has written more novels.