He was educated at Malvern College before studying English Literature at Cambridge University.
Cunningham began working at Penguin in 1977 and held the position of marketing director in 1989.
As marketing director for Puffin, Cunningham travelled around the UK with Roald Dahl.
[6][7][8] In 2000, Cunningham left Bloomsbury to start the Chicken House, a publisher of children’s fiction that specializes in new writers.
Barry also published the books of New York Times bestselling author Cornelia Funke.