Colin Cotterill

Colin Cotterill is a notable British author, particularly known for his crime fiction novels. In addition to his writing, he is also a cartoonist and teacher. Cotterill was born in London and completed his academic education, becoming trained as a teacher. He then embarked on a world tour, during which he worked in various capacities including as a Physical Education instructor in Israel, a primary school teacher in Australia, a counselor for educationally handicapped adults in the United States, and a university lecturer in Japan. However, he spent the majority of his latter years in Southeast Asia, where he taught and trained teachers in Thailand and on the Burmese border. Cotterill also spent several years in Laos, working with UNESCO and writing a 40-programme language teaching series for Thai national television.

In addition to his work as a teacher and cartoonist, Cotterill is also a passionate advocate for child protection in Southeast Asia, a theme which is reflected in his novels. He has been involved in child protection efforts in the region for many years, setting up an NGO in Phuket and working with ECPAT, an international organization combating child prostitution and pornography. Alongside his work in child protection, Cotterill has also continued to pursue his passions for cartooning and writing. He contributed regular columns for the Bangkok Post and, after being sufficiently stimulated by his work with trafficked children, he wrote his first novel, The Night Bastard. Since then, he has written numerous novels, including the Dr. Siri Paiboun and Jimm Juree series, set in Laos and southern Thailand respectively. In 2009, Cotterill received the Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library award for being "the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to library users". Cotterill is married and currently lives in a fishing community on the Gulf of Siam with his wife and their dogs.