Paul Ilett

Thank you for visiting my author page. I’ve always loved writing and spent much of my childhood producing my own plays, comic books and stories. 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, TV news and the BBC. 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. For more than 20 years since, I have continued to write freelance and have had articles published in national and international publications. 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 am now 53 years old and I live in England with my husband and two cats. Why not follow me on Twitter? @Paul_Ilett