Susan Elliot-Wright

 

...grew up in south-east London, left school at 16 with one O-level and married unwisely at 18. After various incarnations as civil servant, mother, adult education tutor, chef, cleaner and pub cook, she reinvented herself by leaving her unhappy life, taking a degree in English and changing her name from Smith to Elliot (Mr Wright came along later).

 

While earning a living working in kitchens, she trained as a magazine journalist and freelanced in London for a few years before moving to Sheffield to do an MA in Writing at Sheffield Hallam University, where she wrote her debut novel, ‘The Things We Never Said’, published in 2013 and now a fiction bestseller.

 

As a journalist, Susan has published hundreds of features in women’s consumer magazines as well as several non-fiction books on health-related topics. She is now primarily a novelist, although she has written a number of short stories, several of which have won places in competitions or been listed for awards.

 

The story included in the Anthology, ‘Day Tripper’, was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2009 as part of the Opening Lines series.

 

She frequently writes on the theme of motherhood and also loves writing about extreme weather, and about the sea.

 

She is an Associate Lecturer in creative writing at Sheffield Hallam University and also runs public creative writing courses and workshops.

 

Susan’s second novel, ‘The Secrets We Left Behind’ was published in May 2014