The winner of four British Fantasy Awards in the past decade, Joyce is one of the East Midlands' most honoured authors yet not one of its best known.

His big break came in early 1990s when he decided to take a year off to find out for himself if he could write a successful novel.

Graham Joyce

Joyce spent that time on the Greek island of Lesbos with his wife Suzanne, and he did manage to write a novel called 'Dreamside.'

"I went to Lesbos where there were no distractions. I didn't really expect to get published, but I did want to know if I could make it or not," Joyce says.

When he got back to England, he submitted the manscript, and before long, it was published.

He had already been writing for 15 years, but the breakthrough on Lesbos was the lift he needed. Eight novels later, he hasn't looked back.

The beauty of being a successful author is that he can combine his travels and his writing with his job teaching creative writing at Nottingham Trent University.

Graham Joyce's most recent book

His latest award-winning novel is 'Indigo', which deals with the questions of colour, invisibility and ways of seeing.

His other novels include 'Smoking Poppy' which was researched in Thailand, while 'Requiem' is set in Jerusalem.

Joyce admits he doesn't really need to keep on working at the university, but he says discussions with students and other teachers keeps him connected.

For more on Graham Joyce, try his personal website.

Learn about a Nottingham University high flyeror other Trent High Flyers designer Billie Tuttle and photographer Ikuko Tsuchiya.