A childhood spent around the world fuels his stories

Peripatetic begining: I got used to the idea that you could pack up one life, and go somewhere new and start a completely fresh one, says James Scudamore about spending his childhood all over the world. Photo: Scudamore

When award-winning British author James Scudamore was a boy, he never stayed in one place for very long. His father was employed by a large multinational chemical company, which often sent him on regular secondments overseas, usually for three years or more.

This meant that while the young Scudamore was born in Britain, he grew up in places as diverse as Brazil, Ecuador and Japan. These experiences in displacement, however, laid a good foundation for him as a writer.