Author Bio
Justin Somper was born and raised in St Albans in Hertfordshire. He graduated from Warwick University before going to work as a publicist for Puffin and then Random House Children's Books. Eight years ago he set up Just So, a PR consultancy focussed on the children's and young adult book market and since then Justin has firmly established himself as one of the leading children's books publicists in the UK. Now living in North London, Justin combines his full-time time PR job with his newly forged career as the author of the Vampirates.
Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean was published in the UK in the summer of 2005 and has been a runaway success. Justin was dubbed "The Next Big Thing" by Sunday Times Magazine while in Waterstone's "Harry Potter Report", the store's buyers selected Demons of the Ocean as their top recommendation for fans of Harry Potter. During 2005, Justin delighted thousand of children across the UK with two book-tours. In October, he was Blue Peter's Book of the Month, just in time for Halloween! He also won the Birmingham Book Award and the Solihull John Lewis Children's Book Award, as well as being short listed for a host of other prestigious awards including the Red House Children's Book Award.
Justin's work has also won praise from fellow children's book authors. Anthony Horowitz enthused, "Totally original… I wish I'd had this idea!", while Darren Shan commented, "An intriguing mix of piracy and vampirism. Justin Somper has brought new terrors to the blood-drenched seas - bravo!!!"
Vampirates: Tide of Terror published in the UK in August 2006 to much acclaim, including selection as book of the month for the Daily Telegraph's Family Book Club with an introduction from Carol Thatcher, Blue Peter's Book of the Month and a top Summer read by The Funday Times (The Times). Tide of Terror instantly became a top 20 children's books bestseller and Justin took part in a number of major sell-out events over the summer at some fantastic venues including the Cutty Sark in Greenwich and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. In October Justin will go on his third and most extensive author tour to-date which will also include an appearance at the Cheltenham Festival.
There are exciting plans afoot for Justin in 2007 as he is one of a select group of authors selected to write one of the special £1 books for World Book Day in March - Vampirates: Dead Deep. Justin is also working on his third Vampirates novel Blood Captain which will publish in Summer 2007. The Vampirates books are now being published all around the world, in over 21 territories. These are exciting times indeed for Justin as he embarks on the next leg of his voyage…