Sharon Maas was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1951; her mixed ancestry - African, Amerindian, Dutch and British – contributes in no small measure to the complexity of themes in her work. She came from a prominently political family. Her mother was one of Guyana's earliest feminists, human rights activists and consumer advocates; her father was Press Secretary to the Marxist opposition leader Dr Cheddi Jagan who was Prime Minister twice over. Both parents received the country's highest honours for public service, the Golden Arrow.

She lived in Guyana until she was 10, when she was sent to Harrogate College in Yorkshire, England. She returned to Guyana after her 'A' Level examinations and got a job with the Guyana Graphic as a trainee reporter, quickly progressing to writing feature articles for the Sunday Chronicle.

Sharon spent 1971 and 1972 travelling around South America: Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. In 1973 she travelled overland to India – via England, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This, her first visit to India, was to last for two years, living in an Ashram in Tamil Nadu. It was there that she met her first husband, a cellist in a German orchestra.

In 1975 she travelled to Germany, married, got divorced, lived in Paris for a year then returned to Germany where she studied Social Work in Freiburg. It was while working as a Probation Officer in Mosbach, South Germany, that she met her second husband, another Probation Officer.

Sharon now divides her time between England and Germany with her husband and two children. She has written three novels - Of Marriageable Age, Peacocks Dancing and The Speech of Angels, with a fourth well under way.

You can learn more about Sharon from her interviews..