I was born in Turkey in 1973. In 1999, I came to England to learn English. I then became a primary school teacher and for 10 years I worked as a class teacher, ICT coordinator and music teacher in inner-city schools across London. In 2014, I moved to work in higher education and started to work as a lecturer at a university. Currently, I work at UCL where I train primary school teachers. In 2019, I was awarded an MBE for my contributions to education, children and families from disadvantaged backgrounds.
As a child, I loved reading and writing but I did not have access to many books. My mum and dad had never been to school and they couldn't read or write. I read in the evenings for my dad, whatever I could find. Sometimes a newspaper cutting, sometimes the stories and poems that I had written. My favourite book as a child was 'The Little Princess' by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It is funny really because I didn't know then that London was a real city. I thought it was an imaginary place. Here I am, in London and have published a children's book in English.
My first children's book is called Alya the Pathmaker. The main character is called Alya Manning, who is a bright nine year old girl, living with her dad in London. When her mother suddenly dies in a car accident, she becomes desperate to see her for one last time. One morning her father gives her an unusual stone cylinder, apparently left by her late mother.
She tries to unfold the mystery of the stone cylinder with her best friend Ben. They travel across the universe looking for clues. Slowly, with the help of her mother's friend Mr Benson, she connects the puzzle pieces and finds surprising information about her mum that changes her life. In her search, she meets robots, ugly beasts and Enki, the Ancient Sumerian God of Earth.
Recently, I published a picture book called 'Give the Colours Back to the Earth', where I was the author and the illustrator.
Thank you for reading my profile!
Yasemin
