Saviour Pirotta was born on the small Mediterranean island of Malta. His parents, both devoutly religious, named Saviour after Jesus. Biblical names and professions ran in the family; his brother is called Joseph, he has two aunt Marys' and his father was a carpenter. With such a background it may be a surprise that, as a child, Saviour preferred pirate and ghost stories to biblical ones. His granny fuelled his fascination with the pirate lore of the Maltese islands and Saviour never tired of listening to popular pirate legends. He particularly liked the gruesome ones! Sadly, at Saviour's junior school, there was no library, just a locked bookcase outside the head teacher's office. So, instead of reading stories, Saviour listened to them instead. He would sit outside on a summer's evening and hear stories from people in his village. When Saviour arrived at his secondary school he was delighted to find a brilliant library and he was soon hooked on books for the rest of his life. Five years later, Saviour knew he was going to be a writer!

In 1982 Saviour moved to England to pursue his ambition. His first job was adapting and directing a play based on Maltese pirate folklore. After this he spent eight years working as a storyteller for the Commonwealth Institute, visiting schools and libraries around Britain. Saviour's first book was published just four years after he embarked upon his dream of becoming a writer and since then he has written over sixty books, many of them best-sellers. Turtle Bay and Joy to the World, both Frances Lincoln titles, have won numerous awards and Saviour's work has been translated into fifteen languages. Saviour also writes under the name Sam Godwin, creating fun science books for five to seven year olds. A Seed in Need was awarded the English Association's Best Non-Fiction Picture Book award.

Saviour has written several non-fiction books for Franklin Watts and for Orchard Books he has written The Orchard Book of First Greek Myths. This title is a perfect introduction to Greek Myths, illustrated with bright friendly pictures by Jan Lewis. Ten of the best-loved Greek legends are retold with warmth and humour to make them easily accessible for young children. Once Upon a World, Saviour's latest series of books for Franklin Watts includes six less well-known fairy tales from around the world followed by a more familiar fairy tale with strong parallels. The books have been developed to promote literary comparison as required by the National Literacy Strategy and information about both stories' origins and ideas for discussion are included with each title.

"A delightful collection ... Retold with energy and with humorous and richly coloured illustrations, including a wonderful full page spread for each story, this would make a very memorable introduction to Grimm for the very young reader." - Books for Keeps on The Sleeping Princess

"Remarkable retellings of these old stories using vivid, glorious language." - National Literacy Association on The Orchard Book of First Greek Myths

Award-Winning Saviour Pirotta
English Association Award Winner
Children's Book Award Shortlist

Bibliography

Once Upon A World The Enchanted Gazelle The Giant Oak Tree The Glass Palace The Golden Slipper Guess My Name The Lonely Princess Medieval World Health and Medicine

Nursery Rhyme Maths Learn About Counting with Little Bo Peep Learn About Counting with Little Miss Muffet Learn About Shapes with Humpty Dumpty Learn About Telling the Time with Hickory Dickory Dock Individual Titles The Orchard Book of First Greek Myths The Sleeping Princess and Other Fairy Tales from Grimm

Copyright © 2006: The Watts Publishing Group.