Nigel Oakley

Nigel was originally a Shropshire lad, being born and raised in Shrewsbury. Having gained a BSc from Loughborough University and a PGCE from Bath, his teaching career took him from the south-west of England to Teesside via Botswana, Africa. Following his PhD in Durham, he published his non-fiction book ‘Engaging Politics?’ in 2007 (as Nigel W. Oakley) and served as World Development Officer for the Diocese of Durham for five years.

Since moving back to the Midlands, he has concentrated on writing fiction. ‘Warrior Princess and Errant Page,’ the first novel in the Premyslid Chronicles, will be published with Resolute Books in the Spring of 2025. Warrior Princess and Errant Page is about Good King Wenceslas’s page and sprung from a conversation with his son after the school Christmas Concert; having sung about God King Wenceslas, he wanted to know “who the page was” in that carol. Nigel’s research led him to a name: Podevin, and a story about an assassination, a connection with the warrior grand-daughter of King Alfred the Great, and a life in exile …

To ensure he keeps his creative muscles in trim, Nigel also produces a short story every month and regularly puts them on his website, where readers can also hear him read those stories.