Liz Van SantenLiz was born and brought up in Oxford. She started learning the violin aged seven, and discovered her love of music. She always enjoyed, and was a talented, acrobatic dancer, winning an All-England Creative Arts competition in her early teens. She folowed a rich and varied career in Education, culminating in an advisory role, working for Oxfordshire Education Authority. She is an advocate for young children, believing in the importance of fostering positive self-esteem in every child, from the earliest age. During her time with the authority, Liz was a trainer for Early Years practitioners, specialising in the Expressive Arts - music, art and dance - always striving to raise the profile of the Arts as a valid and vital area of life-long learning.Liz is a musician, and has played her violin and sung in local bands for many years, performing everything from classical to rock-and-roll and folk. Since her retirement, Liz still enjoys practising her acrobatic dancing, yoga, skiing and wild swimming. She and her partner spend a lot of time travelling. She finds the beaches of the Riviera, the pine forests of the Médoc, and the solitude of cruising under sail in the West Country, ideal for fostering her creative writing.She likes nothing more than meeting up with her children and grandchildren, tramping through the forest, singing and dancing, and generally having a whole lot of fun. Read More Read Less