English Passengers

Matthew Kneale was born in London in 1960, the son of two writers and the grandson of two others. His grandfather, Alfred Kerr, was Berlin's chief theatre critic and one of Germany's leading literary figures during the Weimar era. Matthew's Manx father, Nigel Kneale, was a screenwriter for film and television, best known for the 'Quatermass' series. Matthew's mother, Judith Kerr, was the author and illustrator of children's books including 'The Tiger who Came to Tea' and 'Mog the Forgetful Cat' and wrote the autobiographical novel 'When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit'.

Kneale is a keen traveller and he has visited more than eighty countries and seven continents. He has a fascination with languages and has tried his hand at learning a number of them, including Japanese, Romanian, Albanian and Amharic Ethiopian. For the last 18 years he has lived in Rome with his wife, Shannon, and their two children, Alexander and Tatiana.