Mark Forsyth

Born in London in 1977, Mark Forsyth (a.k.a The Inky Fool) was given a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary as a christening present and has never looked back. His book The Etymologicon was a Sunday Times Number One Bestseller and was followed by The Horologicon and The Elements of Eloquence. He has written A Christmas Cornucopia on the origins of Christmas traditions and A Short History of Drunkenness. His TED Talk 'What's a snollygoster?' has had more than half a million views. He has also written a specially commissioned essay 'The Unknown Unknown' for Independent Booksellers Week and the introduction for the new edition of the Collins English Dictionary. He lives in London with his dictionaries, and blogs at blog.inkyfool.com.

Latest publication: A RIDDLE FOR A KING - David Fickling Books, September 2024 (Illustrator: Matthew Land) 

A Times Children's Book of the Week

Philo longs for freedom and adventure, and he most certainly gets it when he lands in the strangest of lands: a place where nothing makes sense, a place packed with riddles and paradoxes. Will Philo ever make it home? Will he make sense of the conundrums that litter his path? An addictive, delightfully bamboozling story sure to thrill and intrigue puzzle-loving readers.

Praise:

"Imaginative and utterly bonkers, the book features black-and-white illustrations throughout, and is sure to appeal to fans of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Magic Faraway Tree." - BookTrust