So You Want To Be a Writer? A Guide to Style in English for Those Who Write.

Ray Sparkes taught English and Drama for 29 years in Warwickshire and Hampshire secondary schools. He reviewed poetry for The Teacher and wrote regularly for the East Hampshire Post. He ran a bookshop in Petersfield for several years after retiring from teaching, but later devoted his time to writing. Ray died in 1993.

Chris Sparkes, Ray's son, was educated at University College Chichester and graduated in English with Related Arts, and then was awarded a master's degree in Creative Writing. After some years of lecturing in Higher and Further Education, he is now a self-employed private tutor and runs writing groups in Petersfield and Alton. He founded and manages the Alton Writing Club, and finds time to run a small trout fishery. He is a widely published poet and recently published a translation of the New Testament from the original Greek.