'I am a composer. A composer of classical music. Quite honestly I am not quite sure how that happened to a girl born in Belize and brought up in Tottenham. .It is clear that composing found me. It crept up on me and wouldn't let me out of its grasp.'

Now a leading international composer and a singer-songwriter, Errollyn Warren is as much at home in jazz and pop as in the classical world. Part memoir, How to be a composer: A Life in Music offers an intriguing glimpse into the mind and motivation of a composer and covers aspects of Wallen's sometimes troubled childhood, and her experiences of growing up as a black composer in the UK. It includes a collection of observations, diaries following the progress of new works, and essays. Aimed at a wide audience the book seeks to shed light on the way a composer sees and hears the world.