D.A. Holdsworth

D.A. Holdsworth spent two decades in finance and educational publishing before turning to fiction. His first two novels — ‘How to Buy a Planet’ and its prequel ‘The Zoo of Intelligent Animals’ — blended satire and science fiction to explore how humanity navigates greed, technology, and survival.

His latest work, ‘The Tale of Admiral Benbow’, charts a new course, while its sails are still filled with the same spirit of adventure and humour. Eighteen years in the making, it began in 2007 when Holdsworth and a colleague, seeking escape from a difficult workplace, would find refuge in a small country tavern. Over stolen lunch hours he began scribbling verses about a sea-faring chimp in pursuit of his nemesis. Originally conceived as a gentle spoof of ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ (with a side-swipe at ‘Moby Dick’), it grew and matured over the years into a richly illustrated ballad with a life and heart all its own.

Though notionally written for younger readers, ‘Benbow’ speaks to anyone who has faced their own storms and found a way home. It's a tale born of adversity, tempered by humour, and carried forward by the enduring belief that imagination can still chart a course through life’s roughest seas.

Holdsworth lives with his wife and daughter in Oxfordshire, not far from the real-life Admiral Benbow pub where the story first set sail.