Deborah Helen Chancellor (née Mowbray born 7 July 1966) is an English writer; to date, she has written over 70 books.

Background

Chancellor (née Mowbray) is the second of four girls. She attended

The Broxbourne School The Broxbourne School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England. The school began life in 1959 with just under 50 pupils as a grammar school (Broxbourne Grammar Schoo ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, from 1977 to 1984. She read Modern & Medieval Languages at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

from 1985-1988.

Writing career

Chancellor writes fiction and non-fiction for children. Her work includes ''Harriet Tubman'' (A&C Black, 2013), ''Code Breakers'' (

Barrington Stoke Barrington Stoke is a children's book publisher based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company was founded in 1998 and publishes fiction and non-fiction adapted to different reading ages for reluctant, under-confident and dyslexic children and teens. ...

, 2009), ''Escape from Colditz'' (

, 2007) and two collections of illustrated children's stories, ''I love reading Phonics'' (Octopus Publishing, 2012) and ''Reading Heroes'' (

Parragon Parragon Books Ltd, a United Kingdom publishing company, was formed in 1988 by friends Guy Parr and Paul Anderson. In 2001, it became part of D. C. Thomson & Co. History Parragon began its early years by developing business through overstocks ...

, 2008). She has adapted 365 stories from

The Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

(''Children's Everyday Bible'',

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media co ...

, 2002). Chancellor's non-fiction ranges from historical biography to topical issues (''Moving to Britain'',

Franklin Watts Grolier was one of the largest American publishers of general encyclopedias, including '' The Book of Knowledge'' (1910), ''The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), ''The New Book of Popular Science'' (1972), ''Encyclopedia Americana'' (1945), ''Acad ...

, 2008) to matters of general interest (''Everything You Need to Know'',

Kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

, 2007). In December 2012 she appeared in the BBC's ''

Christmas University Challenge ''Christmas University Challenge'' is a British quiz programme which has aired on BBC Two since 2011. It is a spin-off from University Challenge that airs daily over the Christmas period, and features teams of noteworthy alumni from British u ...

''. Chancellor lives near

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

with her husband, three children and dog.

Awards

''Being a Vegetarian'' (2009) won the UK section for the ''Gourmand World Cookbook'' awards in the vegetarian book category and came second in the world category. In 2012 Chancellor was part of the Newnham College, Cambridge, team that took part in a special Christmas edition of ''University Challenge''.

Literary Fellow

From 2009-2011 Chancellor was a fellow of the

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long ...

at Newnham College, Cambridge.

Selected bibliography

''Harriet Tubman'' : A&C Black 2013
''The Perfect Rebel: Emily Wilding Davison'' : Barrington Stoke 2010
''The Amazon Time Capsules'' : OUP 2009
''Muddy Paws and the Birthday Party'' : Parragon 2009
''Captain Blackbear's Crew'' : Parragon 2009
''Stage School Stars'' : Parragon 2009
''Codebreakers'' : Barrington Stoke 2009
''Space Stories'' : Parragon 2008
''Wacky Workers'' : Parragon 2008
''Spy Stories'' : Parragon 2008
''Detective Stories'' : Parragon 2008
''Escape from Colditz'' : Barrington Stoke 2007
''Everyday Bible'' : Dorling Kindersley 2002
''A Child's First Bible'' : Dorling Kindersley 2002
''The Story of Jonah'' : Dorling Kindersley 2002
''Noah's Ark'' : Dorling Kindersley 1999
''The Christmas Story'' : Dorling Kindersley 1999

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chancellor, Deborah 1966 births Living people English children's writers Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge