Colin Cotterill

Colin Cotterill,
Photo by Roy Hamric

Colin Cotterill (born 2 October 1952) is a London-born teacher, crime writer and cartoonist. Cotterill has dual English and Australian citizenship; however, he currently lives in Southeast Asia, where he writes the award-winning Dr. Siri mystery series set in the People's Democratic Republic of Laos.

Biography

Colin Cotterill was born in London and trained as a teacher and set off on a world tour that didn't ever come to an end. He worked as a Physical Education instructor in Israel, a primary school teacher in Australia, a counselor for educationally handicapped adults in the US, and a university lecturer in Japan. But the greater part of his latter years has been spent in Southeast Asia. Colin has taught and trained teachers in Thailand and on the Burmese border. He spent several years in Laos, initially with UNESCO and wrote and produced a forty-programme language teaching series; English By Accident, for Thai national television.

Ten years ago, Cotterill became involved in child protection in the region and set up an NGO in Phuket which he ran for the first two years. After two more years of study in child abuse issues, and one more stint in Phuket, he moved on to ECPAT, an international organisation combating child prostitution and pornography. He established their training program for caregivers.

All the while, Cotterill continued with his two other passions; cartooning and writing. He contributed regular columns for the Bangkok Post but had little time to write. It wasn't until his work with trafficked children that he found himself sufficiently stimulated to put together his first novel, The Night Bastard (Suk's Editions. 2000).

The reaction to that first attempt was so positive that Cotterill decided to take time off and write full-time. Since October 2001 he has written nine more novels. Two of these are child-protection based: Evil in the Land Without (Asia Books December 2003), and Pool and Its Role in Asian Communism (Asia Books, Dec 2005). These were followed by The Coroner’s Lunch (Soho Press. Dec 2004), Thirty Three Teeth (Aug 2005), Disco for the Departed (Aug 2006), Anarchy and Old Dogs (Aug 2007), and Curse of the Pogo Stick (Aug 2008), The Merry Misogynist (Aug 2009), Love Songs from a Shallow Grave (Aug 2010) these last seven are set in Laos in the 1970’s.

On 15 June 2009 Colin Cotterill received the Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library award for being "the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to library users".

When the Lao books gained in popularity, Cotterill set up a project to send books to Lao children and sponsor trainee teachers. The Books for Laos programme elicits support from fans of the books and is administered purely on a voluntary basis.

Since 1990, Cotterill has been a regular cartoonist for national publications. A Thai language translation of his cartoon scrapbook, Ethel and Joan Go to Phuket (Matichon May 2004) and weekly social cartoons in the Nation newspaper, set him back onto the cartoon trail in 2004. On 4 April 2004, an illustrated bilingual column ‘cycle logical’ was launched in Matichon’s popular weekly news magazine. These have been published in book form.

Cotterill is married and lives in a fishing community on the Gulf of Siam with his wife, Jessi, and ever-expanding pack of what some have described as very annoying dogs.

Bibliography

Dr. Siri Paiboun series

• The Coroner’s Lunch (2004)

Soho Press, New York. ISBN 1-56947-376-5

• Thirty-Three Teeth (August 2005)

Soho Press, New York. ISBN 156-947-388-9

• Disco For the Departed (August 2006)

Soho Press, New York. ISBN 156-947-464-8

• Anarchy and Old Dogs (August 2007)

Soho Press, New York. ISBN 156947463X

• Curse of the Pogo Stick (August 2008)

Soho Press, New York, ISBN 156-947-485-0

• The Merry Misogynist (August 2009)

Soho Press, New York. ISBN 156-947-556-3
Quercus, UK. ISBN 184-916-008-2

• Love Songs from a Shallow Grave (August 2010)

Soho Press, New York. ISBN 978-1569476277

Other publications

• Ageing Disgracefully (October 2009)

iUniverse, USA

• Cyclelogical. Weekly column

Matichon Suth Supdah Magazine. Thailand.
Cyclelogical Collection in book form, (2006) (ขับช้าชิดซ้าย)
Matichon, Bangkok, ISBN 974-323-709-7

• Pool and its Role in Asian Communism (2005)

Asia Books, Thailand, ISBN 974-8303-76-4

• Ethel and Joan Go to Phuket (2004) (ภูเก็ตพังแน่ แม่แม่กำลังมา)

Matichon Publishing House (Thai language), Thailand ISBN 974-323-236-2

• Evil in the Land Without (2003)

Asia Books, Thailand ISBN 974-8303-70-5

• The Night Bastard (2000)

Suk's Editions, Thailand ISBN 974-745-724-5

Awards

• 2009 CWA "Dagger in The Library" award for The Dr. Siri Series
• 2009 Short-listed for Crimefest "Last Laugh Award" for Anarchy and Old Dogs
• 2008 Short-listed for CWA Dagger for The Coroner’s Lunch
• 2007 Prix SNCF Du Polar for Le Dejeuner du Coroner (The Coroner's Lunch)
• 2006 Dilys Award for Thirty Three Teeth
• 2005 Nominee for Barry Award "Best First Novel" for The Coroner's Lunch

External links

• Author's Homepage
• Crime Writers' Forum
• Author's homepage at Random House
• Author's Podcast Interview
• Books For Laos Project
• A Night of Stories – Laos with author Colin Cotterill
• American Booksellers Association: The Coroner's Lunch Interview
• 2011 Shotsmag Ezine Interview – "Killed at the Whim of a Hat"
• Shotsmag Ezine Book Review of "Killed at the Whim of a Hat"
• Euro Crime: The Coroner's Lunch review
• Aust Crime Fiction: Thirty-Three Teeth Review
• Dilys Awards: Thirty-Three Teeth
• Crimespree Magazine: Disco for the Departed Interview
• New York Times: Anarchy and Old Dogs Review
• Deseret Morning News: Anarchy and Old Dogs Interview
• Masterpiece.PBS: Spotlight On World Mysteries

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Name	Cotterill, Colin
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Date of birth	2 October 1952
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