Fiona Tankard

Fiona Tankard Lister is a British ghostwriter and children's author who has spent the last 23 years in Italy, first Umbria then Tuscany.

Always a lover of fantasy, adventure and magic, she wrote her first book about a space expedition, Molarta 570, when she was eight. This inspired her to devote her working life to the English language, in all its complex and beautiful forms.

Fiona did an honours degree in English and American Literature at Warwick University, followed by a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at Southampton University and the a University of Cambridge Diploma in teaching English as a Foreign Language. After a career in English Language teacher training in Bournemouth, England, Fiona married fellow teacher Alan and went off to live in a ruined farmhouse in Umbria, Italy, taking a motley collection of dogs and cats along for the ride.

There followed a couple of decades of building, teaching, writing, the creation of the UK best selling glossy magazine Italy, more building, writing and ghostwriting, including an Amazon best seller. There was a worrying increase in animal companions, very often with a bit missing. Sadly, Alan passed away in Italy, and Fiona had to start over, helped by her lovely friends and her faithful animals, which now includes alpacas.

Fiona is now happily married to William Lister, chaplain of St.Mark's English Church, Florence and divides her time between the Casentino and Florence. She works as a ghostwriter and also writes books for children. These always feature life's most essential ingredients – magic and animals.

The star of Fiona's latest book Ruby and the Ghost Dog is Gaspare, an English Setter she rescued in 2009. Thankfully he is not a ghost and lives happily with Fiona's other rescue dog Mana' (who is named after the Polynesian god of universal energy, or something like that) and water-maniac cat Misty!

Fiona welcome feedback from readers and is also happy to talk to reading groups, school teachers and school children from all over the world. Please get in touch!