Ben Birdsall was born in West Yorkshire, England, in 1967, and educated at South Craven, Sedbergh School and Durham University.

After graduating, following a vocation to paint, he moved to Italy where he worked in a studio near Pontedera in Tuscany.

Always writing, his play Staggart Lane was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1987, and in 1995 his novel Blue Charm, published by Blackstaff Press, was shortlisted for the Authors’ Club of Great Britain Best First Novel Award.

In 2007 his Tuscany by Vespa was published by Arteventbook, Pisa, and Umbria by Vespa in 2012.  When not travelling the world on his Vespa, he lives in Winterthur, Switzerland, with his wife and daughter.