About the Author

of

Alfred and the Pirates

Irving Finkel is a curator in the Department of the Ancient Near East in the British Museum in London. There he reads cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia, the oldest writing in the world.

He was born in London in 1951, and received his BA in Ancient New Eastern Studies in 1969 from the University of Birmingham.  In 1976 he gained his PhD in Assyriology on the subject of ancient Mesopotamian exorcistic magic, and as a result knows all about how the ancient Babylonians got rid of awkward devils and demons.  After three years as a Research Associate at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago he was appointed Assistant Keeper in the British Museum in 1979, thereby fulfilling his life’s ambition from the age of four and a half.

Irving Finkel is a man of many and varied interests.  In the Museum, surrounded by ancient inscriptions, he works on ancient magic, medicine, secret writings and traditional stories like Gilgamesh.. One of his favourite tasks as a curator is teaching children (and sometimes their parents) how to write their names in cuneiform signs on pieces of plasticine.  He also is very interested in the history of board games, ancient and modern, and has started several investigations around the world to rescue traditional games before they disappear altogether, and has written books and articles about games of this kind.  He collects all sorts of things, especially old diaries, and is interested in what children collect today, and why.  He wrote and presented a four-part series on Mesopotamian Medicine, Dentistry and Magic titled The Wedge Between Us, on Radio 4, and has contributed frequently ever since to radio and television programmes. 

He is the author of several books for children including The Lewis Chessmen, and What Happened to Them and The Hero King Gilgamesh, as well as the Incredible Writing Box (with Oliver Moore), which explains how to spell English words and sentences  in ancient Babylonian, ancient Egyptian and Chinese.

Irving is married and the father of five children. 
 

        Irving Finkel is the last of the great eccentrics, put on the earth to brighten up the dull grey everyday. He knows more things about more things than most sane people could cope with, and it will come as no surprise to his many devoted admirers that with the help of his brilliant accomplice Emily Donegan, he has produced a timber shiveringly good yarn in the highest piratical tradition.
                        Maev Kennedy, Heritage correspondent for the Guardian

 

Praise for Irving Finkel’s The Hero King of Gilgamesh

        ‘a good adventure story’
                -Alexandria LaFaye Children's Literature

        ‘an attractive picture book for children…faithful’
                -Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Praise for Irving Finkel’s The Lewis Chessmen

        Carved in wonderful detail, unexpectedly expressive and individual, the ivory chessmen from the Isle of Lewis give every indication of having marvellous secrets to share.  In this storybook Irving Finkel tells of their many adventures, from their discovery on a Scottish beach long ago to the present day.

        ‘I thought it was very good… I liked the way that the chessmen expressed themselves, and the way that there was always something happening.’
                -Joseph Letts (aged 12)