Robby Charters has lived most of his life in Thailand where he was born of an Irish father and an American mother. His wife is Thai, and they have one son who plays computer games. At present they live in Northern Ireland, where Robby designs eBooks. In Thailand, he did lots of things, most recently teaching English. He also worked for a year at Mercy Centre, with Father Joe Maier, a shelter for homeless children, which inspired many aspects of the novel Pepe.