Hello, I’m Ben. That’s not my dog. I found him in a park in 2018 and reunited him with his owner. So I had a dog for about 20 minutes and he was lovely.

Even that was a lifetime ago, though. After 20 years working primarily as a sports journalist and editor, I moved to the Middle East with my family in 2019, and in that time have written three novels and am working on a fourth. I hold a Masters in Creative Writing from Kingston University, where I earned a distinction and the prize for best student, and I’m represented by a UK literary agent.

I also run a writers’ group in Abu Dhabi that meets every Monday. The group offers a space for creative people to share their work and talk about the craft, and is unlike any writing group I have ever been a part of – made up as it is of people from all over the world, writing in every genre you can imagine. The perspectives brought to the table are inspiring, and the group has been a life-saver for me out here.

My wife and I are very grateful to be able to live in this part of the world, our two boys are getting an unbelievable experience. Outside of writing and editing, I am a Tottenham fan, but otherwise very reliable.