Philip Kerr
About Author
Phillip Kerr was born and educated in Edinburgh and now lives in Wimbledon, London, with his journalist wife and three young children.
Kerr initially trained at University of Birmingham as a lawyer. Realising law wasn't for him, he pursued a career in advertising before finally becoming a journalist and novelist.
He has now written many thrillers for adults, including the acclaimed Berlin Noir trilogy. Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure was his first children's book. This was followed a year later (Sept 2005) with the second in the series: Children of the Lamp: The Blue Djinn of Babylon.
Despite always wanting to write for children, Kerr regarded the process as much more challenging than writing for adults. He was finally spurred in to writing the Children of the Lamp books when his eldest son, William, shunned reading for video games and the television. In order to wean William off Playstation 2, Philip decided to write a book specifically for his children.
When he first started working on the Children of the Lamp title, he thought he was only writing for an audience of three. By the time he had finished the book, it was still his intention to have it privately printed and commissioned an illustrator to brighten up the pages for his children.
Kerr mentioned the book to his agent in Los Angeles who also had a son the same age as William. Before he knew it, Dreamworks had bought the film rights and the book had found a publisher.
In his spare time, Philip enjoys reading Graham Swift, listening to Led Zeppelin, eating violet creams and watching Arsenal.
Children of the Lamp: The Akhenaten Adventure tells the story of twins, Jonathan and Philippa Gaunt, who live in New York. The early arrival of their wisdom teeth, aged 12, heralds strange dreams and a trip to London.
There they meet their eccentric Uncle Nimrod. He tells them the truth about their background they are born of a Djinn mother and as a result, they have extraordinary powers. Nimrod turns out to be a very important figure in the Djinn world and the children find themselves in the midst of a titanic battle of good and evil set across three continents.
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