Cindy Jefferies (born 1951) is a UK children's writer with sixteen books in print. She is best known for her series ''Fame School'' (Usborne Publishing) about a group of children who are singing, playing and dancing their way to success in the music industry. This very English approach to the subject found a wide and enthusiastic audience, and has so far (2010) been translated into 15 languages. She also contributes to titles published for charity, including ''Lines in the Sand'' (2003, edited by Mary Hoffman) – a response to the allied invasion of Iraq, with all funds raised donated to

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

in Iraq.

Biography

Jefferies was born in 1951 in

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

, Gloucestershire, and after some years in Scotland she returned to the county, where she still lives and continues to write for children. Jefferies' first book, ''Sebastian's Quest'', was a fantasy based on the ancient

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

Avebury Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in south-west England. One of the best-known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in ...

in Wiltshire. It was published in 2000 by the discoverer of

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

, Barry Cunningham. She has also collaborated with her son Sebastian Goffe on the series "Stadium School" for

A & C Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing ''Who's Who'' since 1849 and the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' between 1827 and 1903. It offers a wide variety of boo ...

. The four books in this series follow the exploits of Roddy Jones, a young, aspiring footballer, who wins a place at a specialist, football school. The series was chosen by the

National Literacy Trust The National Literacy Trust is an independent charity (registered no. 1116260 in England and Wales and registered no. SCO42944 in Scotland) based in London, England, that promotes literacy. It was founded by Sir Simon Hornby, former chairman of ...

in 2009 for their Reading the Game initiative. She is a member of

The Society of Authors ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, the Scattered Authors Society, the Federation of Children's Book Groups, and is a life member of the Friends of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature. She is agented by Patricia White of Rogers Coleridge and White.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferies, Cindy 1951 births British children's writers People from Cirencester Living people British women children's writers