John Ironmonger is a writer, a zoologist, and someone who dabbles in healthcare IT. He is the author of 'The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder,' published by Orion books, and of 'The Coincidence Authority' which is due out in 2013.
John was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and at the age of thirteen he was dispatched to boarding school in England (St Lawrence College in Ramsgate). He studied Zoology at Nottingham University, and went on to complete a PhD degree at Liverpool studying freshwater leeches and flatworms. This led to a period lecturing at a new University in Nigeria (the University of Ilorin).
John married Sue Newnes in 1975, and they have two children - Zoe, and Jonathan. In 1994, while Sue was serving on the Council of Chester Zoo, John wrote 'The Good Zoo Guide,' a guide to all of the UK's zoos and animal parks, which was published by Harper Collins.
John has worked in the IT industry since the 80s, and has travelled widely, spending a lot of time in America, Europe, and the Middle East. In 2007, John and a friend, Mike Taylor, drove a thirty year old Renault 5 across Europe and the Sahara in the annual Plymouth to Banjul banger rally - an adventure through eight countries and across three hundred miles of sand. Their trip raised almost £10,000 for an orphanage project in West Africa.
The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder came third in the Guardian newspaper's 'Not the Booker Prize,' and was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. A second novel, The Coincidence Authority is due out in March 2013, and John is working on a third novel - The Apocalypse and the Whale.
In September 2012, John and Sue made a 'heart-of-darkness' trip to the Ujung Kulon national park in Indonesia and became possibly the only living Britons ever to see a Javan rhino and her calf. They are still smug about this.
You can keep in touch with John on his occasional blog: http://notablebrain.blogspot.com/
