Jerry Ibbotson biography

Jerry Ibbotson was born in London in 1969. He worked as a BBC radio journalist for almost ten years before leaving to run his own sound production company in 2000.

Chosen is his debut novel which he began writing in 2005 and published in 2008.

"I’d prefer to look at it the other way round. I became a journalist because I was interested in words and communicating stories to people. I’d originally wanted to be a magazine writer but found myself on a radio journalism post-grad course in 1990 because all the other courses were full! Working in radio is very different from newspaper or magazine journalism; you have to write English as it is spoken and use shorter sentences and more abbreviation (plus there are lots of other technical skills). But I was at least working with words and ideas and I got to see places and meet people I wouldn’t have otherwise. So the love of words and writing was always inside me. As a child at junior school I loved to write short stories and as a 16 year old doing O Levels I breezed through my English Language paper, even getting feedback from the examiner on the quality of my writing. Before I sound too big-headed I did go on to fail A level Maths and Physics! Journalism just got me used to the idea of other people listening to, or reading, my words. That’s a scary thing: holding your own work up to the light of day and having it judged."
When asked if the ten years spent as a BBC radio journalist helped his writing

March 2nd 2013 interview with Jerry Ibbotson

Jerry Ibbotson was born in London in 1969. He worked as a BBC radio journalist for almost ten years before leaving to run his own sound production company in 2000. Chosen was his debut novel, which he began writing in 2005 and published in 2008. Earlier this year he published The Veil and I caugh [...]

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