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