Manuela Salvi is the author of over 20 books for children and young people in Italy and after the original version of Girl Detached and her picture book Nei Panni di Zaff were banned in Italy due to 'strong' and 'gay' content, she determined to study censorship and self-censorship in children's and young adult fiction. She was awarded the Jacqueline Wilson scholarship to study at Roehampton and is working on her PhD thesis and new English-language fiction.