Author of the darkly comical thriller Exposé and its murderously fun sequel Exposed
"I spent more than a decade working as a reporter in radio, newspapers and
TV news."
About Paul
I’ve always loved writing and spent much of my childhood producing my own plays, comic books and stories. I became a huge sci-fi fan very early on and remember I spent most Saturday evenings cowering behind the settee hiding from the monsters on Doctor Who.
It was my love of writing that eventually drew me into the world of the media. I spent more than a decade working as a reporter across a range of different media organisations including newspapers, radio stations and TV news. In the late nineties I was lucky enough to work for the BBC's news website and became one of the corporation's first online journalists.
It was during my time at BBC News Online that my interest in online media began and over the following years I could see how the rapid growth of social media (such as Twitter and Facebook) eroded the power of the traditional press.
I came out in 1993, when I was 23 years old, and have become a keen advocate of LGBTQ+ rights. My writing often focuses on homophobia within the newspaper industry. I met my husband in 1996 and we became foster carers in 2006. Since then we have cared for more than 30 children and young people – sometimes for just a few days, sometimes for years.
My first novel, Exposé, was published in 2014. It followed a particularly tumultuous period for the British media, when the phone-hacking scandal was being exposed and other parts of the media – including the BBC – were being heavily criticised for the way they handled other serious issues. But despite parodying many in the media, I was pleased that Exposé received fantastic reviews in national publications - including a four-star rating from The Sun.
My new novel, Exposed, is based in 2016 which of course was the year of the EU referendum in the UK and the presidential election in the US, which Donald Trump won.What I saw at that time was a frightening lurch to the right in the content of many national newspapers, with journalists using increasingly aggressive and negative rhetoric about vulnerable minority groups. This of course included the LGBTQ+ community and especially the trans community. And that lurch to the right is very much a theme throughout Exposed.
I remain a huge Doctor Who fan and am now 52 years old (crikey!). I live in England with my husband and two cats. Why not follow me on Twitter?@Paul_Ilett