Helen Limon

HELEN LIMON, winner of the 2011 Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Award, started writing in 2000, when she set up a children's literature project in Newcastle which turned into a publishing venture for local authors and illustrators. She has just finished a PhD in Creative Writing at Newcastle University, and has also been running workshops for young volunteers in Shiremoor, artists in Russia and the Women's Institute in Wales. The inspiration for her debut novel, Om Shanti Babe, came from encounters with local people on a visit to Kerala in 2009, which made her conscious of the social and environmental themes that she subsequently wove into her book. Helen lives in rural Northumberland with her partner, a painter, and has one daughter, who is studying tailoring in London.