He read law at Cambridge before becoming a theatre director, working on a variety of West End musicals and touring productions. Simon’s middle-grade titles include Finn Jones Was Here, which was shortlisted for UKLA Book Award, and The Double Life of Ted Amos, which was selected for BookTrust’s BookBuzz programme. His YA novels include Noah Can’t Even (picked by WHSmith as one of the most important LGBT books of the last 50 years); Alex in Wonderland (nominated for the Carnegie medal); Heartbreak Boys, (an Indie Next List Pick in the US); You’re the One That I Want (shortlisted for the YA Book Prize), Gay Club! (nominated for the Carnegie Medal and starred reviews from Kirkus and BookList); The Big Ask (Kirkus starred review); and Boy Like Me (long listed for the Carnegie Medal, and winner of the Readers’ Choice Award at the Diverse Book Awards). For screen, he co-wrote the musical rom-com Rules of Love (BBC) and has a number of projects currently in development. He lives in London.