Sue Townsend, with The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ (1982) and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1984), was Britain's bestselling author of the 1980s.

Her other hugely successful novels include Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (1993), The Public Confessions of a Middle-Aged Woman (Aged 55 ¾) (2001) and Number Ten (2002). Most of her books are published by Penguin. She is also well known as a playwright. She lives in Leicester.

'Thank heavens for Sue Townsend ... she has an unrivalled claim to be this country's foremost practising comic novelist'
Mail on Sunday

'Hilarious. Sue Townsend's laughter is infectious'
Sunday Telegraph