Biography
James Barclay was born on 15 March 1965, shortly after midday. For 18 years he lived in Felixstowe, Suffolk with his parents (Thea and Keith), two sisters (Nancy and Virginia) and an older brother (Mike).
Barclay's love for writing spawned from a love for reading. His brother introduced him to the genres of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and he began to play role playing games enthusisatically. From reading many books from the genre, Barclay began to write from the age of 11. The first story which he wrote (at the age of 13) was called "Troja: Dawn". Barclay claims "it was and is utterly awful". After this came his second effort at the age of 15, titled "What Price, Civilization?".
At the age of 18, Barclay moved to Sheffield City Polytechnic to study Electronics Control and Design Engineering. After two weeks he changed from Science to Arts, taking up Communication Studies. His first published work came at this time in a local journal.
By the end of his course, Barclay had decided to become an actor, and moved to London to do a post graduate course in Performing Arts. Since leaving the course, he has been a part in a small number of student films, and several works of amateur dramatics.
The first full manuscript which Barclay wrote had its roots in the earlier sci-fi/fantasy fusion genre. It was entitled "The All-God's gift" and was not published.
After multiple jobs from the age of 23, including a parcel delivery driver (where he lasted just nine weeks) he left Insight Investment in March 2004 to write full time.
Barclay never stopped writing and submitting, and in May 1998 he achieved success when he found out he was going to be published. The first book of six about The Raven, Dawnthief, was published in the UK in 1999. Since then he has gone on to write a number of books regarding the raven, and also his new duology The Ascendants of Estorea.
Barclay is currently married to his wife Clare, and they both live in Teddington. Their first child, a boy, was born on January 25, 2007.
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