Sally-Anne has been writing poems, plays, stories, scripts and journalism since she was sixteen but writing novels has been her most passionate and challenging ambition.
She was runner up in the Bridport Short Story Prize and won the Richmond Short Story Prize with Daddy. She has published poems in Birdsuit edited by George Szirtes, and Not Expecting Fish (Gatehouse Press).
She has received a Southwest Arts grant for her play The Bag Ladies Ball and an Eastern Arts Award for her first attempt at a novel A Clever Girl.
She has written a column Single in the City for Ms London Magazine, written for the New Statesman, The Guardian, Broadcast Magazine and Norwich Magazine. She wrote a popular Blog: A Country Wife – commenting on the first year of married life. Her lecture Julian of Norwich: Creativity and Compassion is published by the Friends of Julian and is available from their website.
She has worked for most of her life as a television producer and director making documentaries for Channel 4, BBC2 & BBC4, ITV1, and Animal Planet. Click to see my FILMWORK page for full details.
She has a Diploma in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and was selected for the National Centre for Writing’s prestigious Escalator Scheme in 2016 where she worked with mentor MAN Booker Long Listed author, Yvvette Edwards, on Live Like Your Head’s on Fire. She was supported by The Literary Consultancy’s Free Reads Scheme and the opening chapter of Live Like Your Head’s on Fire was selected for publication in their AM Heath Free Reads Anthology in 2019.
Before Live Like Your Head’s On Fire was published early drafts were shortlisted for the Arvon/Jerwood New Writers Prize and Longlisted for the FISH Young Adult Fiction Prize.
Her first novel Live Like Your Head’s On Fire published by StoryMachine in 2021 was selected by The Financial Times as a Best New Book for Young Adults 2021.
The sequel Love Like You Heart’s On Fire was published in July 2023.
Sally-Anne has twice been awarded grants from the Arts Council of England and is extremely grateful for their support.
