CHRIS SIMPSON grew up in Bracknell and Slough. He has worked as a waiter, a cinema projectionist, a shoe salesman, an attendant in an amusement arcade, hiring out construction and demolition tools, a pasty seller, a caretaker for a primary school, a teaching assistant, a tutor and a facilities manager. He was a collaborator on a sketch show and has performed as a stand-up comedian. 

In 2020 he had a special mention for the Spread The Word Life Writing Prize 2020.

In 2019 he was nominated for the inaugural Agora and PFD Lost The Plot Prize.

In 2018 he was an awardee of the inaugural Spread The Word's London Writers Award.

He received a First in Creative Writing at BA level from Birkbeck University.

In 2016 he was nominated for the Royal Academy and Pin Drop Short Story Award 2016.

While living in Moscow he completed his first novel. He now lives in London and has just finished his second novel, "Kith and Kin".

He is also the writer of several plays.

Influences mutate depending on the work but often include Andre Dubus, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Richard Yates, Philip Roth, Harold Pinter, Sarah Kane, Tessa Hadley, Andre Dubus III, William McIlvanney, Alice Munro, Stephen King, Raymond Carver and Gwendoline Riley.