Back Back

Award-winning author receives University honour

29/03/2018

An award-winning author from Wolverhampton has been honoured for her literary achievements by the city’s University.

Narinder Dhami was educated at Wolverhampton Girls’ High School and her most famous and biggest selling book was Bend It Like Beckham, a novelisation of the 2002 film.

She received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Wolverhampton on Wednesday, 28 March 2018 at a ceremony at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.

She said: “It was completely unexpected, but I'm thrilled to be honoured in this way by my home city. As a graduate myself, I know first-hand how higher education affects your whole life afterwards in a very positive way.”

Narinder, who was born in Wolverhampton and attended Wolverhampton Girls’ High School, loved reading books and writing stories from a very young age.

After leaving the University of Birmingham (where she obtained an English degree and also met her husband), she started teaching children aged 7-11. Over the years, she started writing stories again with a view to getting published.

She left her teaching job and started writing full-time, after entering a magazine competition to write the first three chapters of a book and placing second – her prize was a word processor, an Amstrad 9152.

The first book Narinder wrote was a short novel for younger children called A Medal for Malina. The book was accepted by the first publisher she sent it to, and she’s not looked back since. She’s published around 300 books, including the novelisation of the 2002 movie Bend It Like Beckham, the Bindi Babes series and many of the multi-million-selling RainbowMagic books for younger children, under the shared pseudonym of Daisy Meadows.

In 2010, after living away for 30 years in London and Cambridge, Narinder and her husband returned to the Midlands.

The University is holding its Spring graduation ceremonies for Postgraduate and Institute of Health students on Wednesday, 28 and Thursday, 29 March 2018.

For further information about studying at the University, visit: www.wlv.ac.uk

Further information

For more information please contact the Media Relations Office on 01902 32 2736 or 01902 518647.

Date Issued: Thursday, 29 March 2018

For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.

Share this release

Related Stories