Diane Samuels was born in Liverpool in 1960. She studied history at Sidney Sussex college, Cambridge and worked as a drama teacher in inner London secondary schools and as an education officer at the Unicorn Theatre for children before becoming a full time writer in 1992.

She has written over 13 works for the theatre. These include The True Life Legend of Mata Hari, which was staged at the Palace Theatre, Watford in 2002; “Frankie’s Monster”, which was adapted from Vivien Alcock’s novel, The Monster Garden (Heinemann) (Unicorn Theatre, 1991); “The Bonekeeper” (Tricycle Youth Theatre, 1992) which was short-listed for the1992 W. H. Smith Awards for plays for children; and Kindertransport which was a co-winner of the 1992 Verity Bargate Award and which went on to win the 1993 Meyer Whitworth Award.

Diane Samuels has also written eight radio plays, among them, “Frankie’s Monster” ( Radio 5, 1992); “Swine” (Radio 4, 1996); “Doctor Y” (Radio 4, 1997) and “Hen Party” (Radio 4, 2001).

Related Resources:

• Diane Samuels Interview, Andrea Birk and Tina Wald (University of Cologne, Germany), gender forum, AnyBody’s Concerns 6 (2003).
• Interview with Diane Samuels [Podcast], Shared Experience Theatre.
• Magical Worlds, Creative Research, British Library.

Book Reviews by Diane Samuels:

• High art, low deeds, The Guardian, July 14, 2007.
• Riding the surf, The Guardian, April 28, 2007.
• Bought and sold, The Guardian, February 3, 2007.
• Charm under fire, The Guardian, January 13, 2007.
• A tale of magical times, The Guardian, December 16, 2006.