Nigel Hinton hated school and left to try several jobs before returning to education and training to be a teacher. He taught for nine years before, encouraged by the publication of his first book, COLLISION COURSE, he began to write full-time. The hugely successful BUDDY followed and then BUDDY'S SONG which was made into a film for which he wrote the screenplay and nine songs. THE FINDERS won the 1994 Children's Book Award for middle fiction. Nigel Hinton lives in Sussex.