About Darren Whitehead

Darren Whitehead was born in 1968 and was raised as an only child in a small village just outside of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. (Back then the county was Lancashire).

Darren comes from a working class family background. His father, Jeff, was a self employed window cleaner (full time) and a martial arts instructor in his spare time. Darren's mother, Norma, worked in the factory industry in a variety of roles.

Darren went to Bolton South VI Form College where he gained an A level in theatre studies, although he was by no means an academic.

As Darren grew up he progressed through the grades in martial arts, coached by his father, and eventually earned his 5th dan black belt. He travelled to the US, Spain, Gibraltar and around the UK teaching martial arts and running tournaments and coaching seminars with his father.

As a teenage boy, Darren had enjoyed writing comedic poetry with his father and they both shared a love of the written word, 'though neither took it seriously until later life. Upon his retirement from the martial arts, Jeff joined Bank Street Writers in Bolton, where he became inspired to write again. This reignited Darren's passion for writing also and together they began to write poetry. Darren also started to write children's stories (mainly in verse) and song lyrics. Jeff and Darren became regular visitors to Write Out Loud, an open mic poetry evening in Bolton.

Darren is now 41 years old and enjoys writing more than ever. He still lives in Bolton with his partner, Angie. Angie has a 9 year old daughter who has adopted Darren as her dad and Darren has an 8 year old daughter from a previous relationship. Darren, Angie and the girls all have a mischievous sense of humour and their life is filled with love, laughter and fun. They are very close to each other and to their parents, and Darren hopes to inject some of this love, fun and energy into his writing.

Darren's father sadly passed away in February 2009 following a two year battle with cancer. This has served to inspire Darren even further into pursuing his writing career.