Credit to Martins Melecis

Sara Sheridan

7 June 1968 –

Novelist

Sara Sheridan is an Edinburgh-based historical novelist who writes two different kinds of books. One is a series of cosy crime noir murder mysteries set in Brighton in the 1950s – Brighton Belle, London Calling and England Expects - and the other is a set of novels based on the real-life stories of late Georgian and early Victorian explorers and adventurers (1820 - 1845) – The Secret Mandarin and Secret of the Sands. She has also written for children – her picture book I’m Me has appeared on CBeebies three times and is currently in development as a ballet for children with the Scottish Youth Dance Theatre.

Tipped in Company and GQ magazines, she has been nominated for a Young Achiever Award. She received a Scottish Library Award for Truth or Dare, her first novel, and was shortlisted for the Saltire Book Prize. She co-wrote two short films one of which was nominated for a SkyMoviesMax Award. An occasional journalist and blogger, Sara has reported from both Tallin and Sharjah for BBC Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent and has appeared as an historical expert on ‘being a lady’ on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour.

Sara is a long-time feminist and feels that women are not valued enough in public life, often giving talks on these issues. One lecture in particular that Sara gives is called The History of the Lady which is all about what women have to do to be accepted by society over several different eras up to the present day. She says ‘“Looking at my life through the lens of history has made me increasingly grateful to standout women who pushed those boundaries to make the changes from which I have benefited”.

She occasionally blogs for the Guardian, the London Review of Books and the Scottish Book Trust and is an accredited blogger for the Huffington Post. She has written articles for a variety of newspapers from the Scotsman to the Daily Record as well as BBC History magazine.

Sara spent three years sitting on the Committee of the Society of Authors in Scotland (2010-2013) where she was responsible for negotiating a pioneering service level agreement between Scottish writers and publishers, in tandem with Publishing Scotland. She now sits on the board of the UK-wide writers' collective '26'. In 2014 she was one of the writers with work on display in the opening exhibition at the Story Museum in Oxford.

She is a member of the Historical Writers Association, the Historical Novel Association, the Crime Writers Association and BAFTA. In October 2012 Brighton Belle went to No 1 in the Amazon Kindle chart UK and in July 2013 it went to No 1 on the UK Apple store. During 2014 Sara has taken part in the Yestival tour and the Bus Party tour sd s contribution to the Referendum debate. She was the first guest on ReferendumTV. Sara is also patron of registered local charity Its Good 2 Give, which provides support for critically ill children and their families.

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