Ewan Bowlby was born and grew up in Oxford with his parents Jane and Chris and siblings Laura and Alfie. As a child, he loved football, singing, chess and family silliness. He was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour at the age of seventeen. Despite this, he finished an undergraduate degree in Theology at the University of Cambridge before his tumour turned cancerous. After a year of treatment, he pursued postgraduate studies at the University of St Andrews where he drew on his personal experience to research and implement ways that fictional narratives in literature, film and TV can provide emotional and spiritual care for cancer patients.



Ewan published academic articles, was editor-in-chief of the online art and theology journal Transpositions, a Centre Ambassador for the cancer care charity Maggie's and a regular visitor to Maggie's Dundee. He sang in a church choir, played sport, supported Newcastle United and enjoyed long walks with his wife Karlee. He completed a charity half-marathon just three months before he died. Ewan was awarded his doctorate in Theology and the Arts weeks before his death in 2022 at the age of twenty-seven.