Stuart Reid is a Force of Nature! Keith Acheson - Director, Belfast Book Festival When I turned forty I realised that life was too short to stay serious. It wasn't that my career choices had been the wrong ones, they just hadn't been the absolute RIGHT ones. Since becoming a full-time author in 2012 Stuart Reid has performed at over 1,500 schools, libraries and books festivals through Britain, Ireland and internationally. He has been acknowledged by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon for his work in schools as part of the First Minister's Reading Challenge, and his books carry testimonials from the BBC's Charlie Higson and Irish Children's Laureate Eoin Colfer. His uniquely entertaining events are exciting, enthusiastic and inspirational, as well as educational, and he is one of the busiest children's authors around. In 2014 Stuart was presented with the 'Enterprise in Education Award' from Falkirk Council for his work in local schools, and his debut novel was selected for the Silver Seal at the Forward National Literature Award. Originally, Stuart wanted to be a journalist, combining his passions for writing and football but he turned up at the wrong college, studied business management and was forced to spend the next 25 years being boring, professional and corporate. His fun-loving attitude was further suppressed by the weight of career responsibility, as a business manager in the retail and hospitality industries in the UK and Dubai. It was in Dubai that Stuart discovered he was allergic to ties; blaming them for stifling the blood flow to his imagination throughout his twenties and thirties. And although the opportunity to move to Dubai was part of life's fantastic rollercoaster, he quickly realised he was not materialistic. Inspiring children to learn to love reading was much more fulfilling, and after two years in the Middle East, Stuart returned home to become a full-time children's author; and learned to enjoy life again. Stuart is 49 years old, going on 10. Stuart rediscovered his love of football, writing and having fun; only doing things that made him laugh or terrified him, or both. This began when he wrote a stage play and four radio adverts. He became the Voice of Scottish Football on Gulf Radio 2, presenting twice a week on the Totally Football Football Show. Throughout his early life he was dedicated to being immature, having fun and getting into trouble. Occasionally, after scoring a goal in the playground Stuart was known to celebrate by kissing lollypop ladies, and he once broke his nose by running into a lamp-post with his jumper pulled up over his head. Stuart's legs suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) which means he has to wear shorts or his kilt at all times. His mid-life crisis offered a return to immature madness involving bogies, bums and big bottom burps and running about his snow-covered garden in only his pyjamas. Incredibly, Stuart has been married for over twenty-five years. He has a very tolerant wife, two children, a superman outfit and a spiky haircut.