David Butterworth was born in London and brought up in Newcastle upon Tyne in the north-east of England. He attended the University of Northumbria where he graduated with a (BA Hons) in Historical and English Literary Studies. Unsure of his vocation, he completed the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course and left the United Kingdom to teach English. Since 2001 he has been teaching in Japan and now in China where he has been resident for several years.
As well as in Britain, he has hiked in Japan and traveled widely in China and in parts of South-East Asia. He enjoys swimming, jogging, reading, music and watching dated movies.
He has been writing short stories, travel essays, journals and intends to write some novels - suspense and one based on his working class upbringing in Northern England. He's currently working on one, a suspense novel concerning Richard III