Richard Penny

Richard Penny, 47, has been an adult fiction writer of novels, novellas, short stories and poetry since the age of eighteen. After a short stint as an advertising copywriter, Richard moved to Paris, where he organised the infamous 'Soma' parties and worked as an art-house film reviewer at Le Centre George Pompidou. His literary works have appeared in Purple Prose, Le Figaro, The Evening Standard, Liberation and The Big Issue. After his two beautiful daughters were born, Richard's muse set sail...See more

Richard Penny, 47, has been an adult fiction writer of novels, novellas, short stories and poetry since the age of eighteen. After a short stint as an advertising copywriter, Richard moved to Paris, where he organised the infamous 'Soma' parties and worked as an art-house film reviewer at Le Centre George Pompidou. His literary works have appeared in Purple Prose, Le Figaro, The Evening Standard, Liberation and The Big Issue. After his two beautiful daughters were born, Richard's muse set sail towards imaginative children's stories. The inspiration behind 'Of Course You Can Meet The Queen!' came from his oldest daughter, whose school was visited by The Duke of Gloucester. When she asked, in all sincerity, whether she might be able to meet The Queen, Richard suggested they wait at the gates of Buckingham Palace. Chris Baker, an old friend who has worked with Aardman Productions and Spitting Image, kindly offered to illustrate the story with 29 quirky, colourful pictures. On completion, a feeling that this may well be a winning picture-book led to Richard setting up as publisher under the name of Catchy Monkey Books. Since publication of 'Of Course You Can Meet The Queen!' in December 2011, Richard conducts free readings at schools across the UK to promote the book and offer children the chance to meet an author. These events are proving to be an enormous success and are an activity that the author finds very rewarding. From Nursery through to Year Four, the children's response to the story's strong yet subtle message of following our dreams has been overwhelming. As a result, children have been encouraged by their teachers to nurture their own skills by writing poetry, story maps and even performing theatre based on the story. Since 2010, the author has arranged an informal gathering for the wonderful Abctales.com's prose-writers and poets in a showcase of their work at The Wheatsheaf in Soho every two months. All proceeds from these events go to Railway Children, a charity that specialises in helping runaways and street children. 50% of profits from sales of 'Of Course You Can Meet The Queen!' go to Railway Children. His next book, 'Just One of Those Days', illustrated by the fabulous Dutch artist, Harmke Wortel, is due out in Spring 2013. See less