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BIOGRAPHY |
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Origins Kelley Jacqueline Townley was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in the south west of England, at 9:27pm on 15th January 1980. She was the unplanned youngest of three girls. Her older sister is eight years older than her and the middle sister, five years older. She was also the only one with red hair, both her sisters and mum being brunette. Her mum used to joke that she was the milkman's daughter because she looked so different but that was okay because at the time her dad was the milkman. Education, Jobs (and romance) She attended a number of different junior schools before settling to do her GCSEs at Kings of Wessex Community School in Cheddar, where they make the cheese - not in the school you understand but in the town. She got her first job at fifteen as a waitress in a restaurant in Burnham-on-sea, a coastal town near Bristol. She then worked for a tearoom on the sea-front, where she continued to delight tourists and drink lots of chocolate milkshake. Neither of these places exist now but she swears that's nothing to do with her. For her A-Levels she decided on Bridgwater Tertiary College, Somerset. A delightful and inspiring place where she was first awakened to the true wonders of life. No, not boys! But philosophy. A subject that she would really take to heart. She took A-level(A2) Art, Psychology and General Studies. And also Philosophy, Religious Philosophy and Human Biology at AS Level (A1). Whilst at College she worked in a shoe-shop measuring children's feet, whom she received kicks and nits from. Ultimately she decided to brave the British university system and went to the University of North London (now London Metropolitan University) in Islington to study a BA Honors degree in Marketing and Philosophy. While in London she worked for Harrods of Knightsbridge and also did a work placement at the Barbican Center. Her main job, however, was working for a multi-media company called CartoonStock. After several months it became obvious that she and her boss had a similar take on life, love and the universe so on Valentines day 2000 they finally got it together, where they have been ever since. Teaching She achieved a respectable 2:1 degree (basically a B) but probably learnt more by simply living in the capital for three years, including what it feels like to be burgled whilst in the shower. After a brief attempt to get a job in event management she decided teaching (?!?!) was the next logical step. So she applied to do a PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) in Religious Education - with a mind to teach philosophy and ethics. She enrolled at Bath Spa University, in the beautiful Georgian city of Bath. During the course she taught at a number of local schools as part of her teacher training, some of which were a delight - and some of which were not. And she even got herself a job lined up in a lovely school in Watford. But, alas, teaching was not for her. Teaching is a lifestyle choice and she had already settled on the idea of having the life of a writer. MA in Writing for Young People (and more romance) So reluctant to give up the student life she returned to Bath Spa University in 2004 to do a MA in Writing for Young People, in which she achieved a very nice distinction. With gay abandoment she got a job in Waterstone's and after lots of hints her future hubby propsed (kind of) in 2005. They had a super fab wedding in the following September but that didn't take her focus off writing and in March 2006 she was published for the first time in an anthology of new writers. She is currently being agented by Alice Wilson at David Higham Ass. and is busy convincing publishers that she is the next big thing in teen fiction. Currently... Kelley currently lives in a village near Bath with husband and son - plus the two obligatory writer's cats and an ever increasing number of woodlice - where she tries to juggle her writing, family life and daydreaming, whilst eating lots of choclate and ice-cream to keep her going.
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