Since November 2009Author Interviews
Here are all the author interviews we have done with numerous authors. We’d like to thank them very much for agreeing to participate and for giving us some fantastic interviews!
Jump to an author interview: (by author’s surname) A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Claire Allan 
Interview conducted in September 2009.
Claire Allan was born and raised in Derry and is a self confessed home bird. She spends her days working as a mild mannered reporter for the Derry Journal, where she has worked since 1999. She is married to Neil and they have one son, Joseph, who is five going on 15. She recently welcomed baby girl Cara into the world. Claire is the author of four novels: Rainy Days and Tuesdays, Feels Like Maybe, Jumping In Puddles and It’s Got To Be Perfect.
Trisha Ashley
Interview conducted in June 2009.
Trisha Ashley was born in St. Helens, Lancashire, and gave up her fascinating but time-consuming hobbies of house-moving and divorce a few years ago in order to settle in North Wales, though her only claim to the area is a Welsh grandmother. Trisha is the author of 12 novels, most recently Wedding Tiers, Chocolate Wishes and Twelve Days of Christmas which is released in October 2010.
Tilly Bagshawe
Interview conducted in June 2010.
Tilly Bagshawe is the internationally bestselling author of three previous novels. A single mother at 17, Tilly won a place at Cambridge University and took her baby daughter with her. She went on to enjoy a successful career in The City before becoming a writer. As a journalist, Tilly contributed regularly to The Sunday Times, Daily Mail and Evening Standard before turning her hand to novels. Tilly’s first book, Adored, was a smash hit on both sides of the Atlantic and she hasn’t looked back since. She is married to an American businessman and the couple have two sons. The family divide their time between their homes in London and America. Her latest novel is Scandalous which was released in June 2010.
Emily Barr
Interview conducted in May 2010.
Emily Barr is the well-loved and bestselling author of Backpack, the original backpacking novel, and many other highly acclaimed novels. A former journalist, she has travelled around the world and written columns and travel pieces for the Observer and the Guardian. After living in France, Emily and her husband, whom she met backpacking, have settled in Cornwall with their three children. Her latest novel is The Perfect Lie which was released in May 2010.
Jane Beaton
Interview conducted in March 2010.
Jane Beaton is the author of two novels in the Downey House series, a boarding school series for grown-ups, Class and Rules. There are supposed to be six novels in the series, but only time will tell. Jane lives in London. There is no word yet on when the third book in the series will be released.
Sasha Blake
Interview conducted in July 2009.
Sasha Blake leads an amazing double life. She spends every morning with her characters, wafting around the pool of a Hollywood mansion or sunbathing on a private beach in the Maldives. The afternoons she spends in London, chasing a ball around a field with three small boys, changing nappies and refereeing fights. Sasha Blake is in actual fact the pseudonym of well-known Chick Lit author Anna Maxted. Her first novel under her new name was Betrayal and the second, The Wish, was released in August 2010.
Alison Bond
Interview conducted in May 2010.
Alison Bond worked as an agent for writers and directors in film and television for ten years before stepping to the other side. She has been published in a handful of national newspapers and magazines and when not busy working on her next novel she has been known to dabble in hopeful screenplays. She lives in London with her family. Alison is the author of three novels, most recently A Reluctant Cinderella.
Jessica Brody
Interview conducted in May 2009.
Jessica Brody graduated from Smith College with degrees in Economics and French. In 2005, she left her job at MGM Studios in Los Angeles to become a full time writer and producer. Jessica currently lives in Los Angeles. Jessica is the author of two Chick Lit novels, The Fidelity Files and The Good Girl’s Guide to Bad Men as well as the teenage novel The Karma Club. There is no word on a third Chick Lit book yet.
Gemma Burgess
Interview conducted in January 2010.
Gemma Burgess moved to London at the age of 22. She started working as an advertising copywriter, and applied herself more wholeheartedly to having a good time. Eight years later she decided to distil some of her experiences into The Dating Detox: the book for women with confidence, wit and style but absolutely no clue whatsoever how to know the real thing when they see it. (Love, that is.). Her latest novel, A Girl Like You, will be released in January 2011.
Emma Burstall
Interview conducted in September 2009.
Emma Burstall has written extensively for national newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, Independent on Sunday, Red and Good Housekeeping. She read English at Cambridge University and started as a cub reporter in Plymouth on the Western Morning News, later becoming features editor of Woman and Family Circle. Emma lives in Kingston upon Thames with her husband, the political commentator Kevin Maguire, and their three children. She is the author of two novels Gym and Slimline and Never Close Your Eyes.
Julie Buxbaum
Interview conducted in August 2010.
Julie Buxbaum is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School. Her first novel, The Opposite of Love, has been translated into eighteen languages, and optioned for film by Twentieth Century Fox. She currently lives in London with her husband and baby daughter. After You is her second novel.
Ellie Campbell (Pam Burkes & Lorraine Campbell)
Interview conducted in September 2009.
Ellie Campbell is a pseudonym for sister writing-duo Pam Burks and Lorraine Campbell. The two sisters were raised in Scotland until as teens their parents moved the family down to Sussex. Between them they have had over 140 short stories published in magazines. Pam now lives in Surrey with her husband and three children where she divides her time between writing, family, her allotment, a part-time job and chasing down her writing partner and big sister, Lorraine. After sailing the Carribean as a Charter Cook, Lorraine finally settled in Colorado with a husband, three horses and a dog. They are the author of two novels, How To Survive Your Sisters and When Good Friends Go Bad.
Louise Candlish
Interview conducted in July 2010.
Louise Candlish worked as an editor and copywriter before writing fiction. She is the author of five previous novels - including I’ll Be There For You, The Double Life of Anna Day, Since I Don’t Have You and The Second Husband. She lives in London with her partner and daughter. Her latest novel Other People’s Secrets was released in July 2010 with her next novel The Homebreaker out in 2011.
Claudia Carroll 
Interview conducted in August 2010.
Claudia Carroll was born in Dublin, where she still lives. She has worked extensively as an actress on the Irish stage, but is probably best known for her role as TV’s nasty Nicola Prendergast in the long-running Irish soap opera Fair City, a character she describes as ‘the horrible old cow everyone loves to hate’. She is now a full-time writer. Her latest novel is Personally, I Blame my Fairy Godmother which was released in August 2010.
Julie Cohen
Interview conducted in October 2010
Julie Cohen studied at Brown University, earning a summa cum laude degree with honours in English. She moved to the UK in 1992 to pursue a postgraduate degree in English Literature at the University of Reading and currently teaches English at secondary level. She lives with her husband in Berkshire. Before writing for Headline Review, Julie was a prominent Little Black Dress author.
Victoria Connelly
Interview conducted in December 2009.
Victoria Connelly was brought up in Norfolk and studied English literature at Worcester University before becoming a teacher in North Yorkshire. After getting married in a medieval castle in the Yorkshire Dales, she moved to London where she lives with her artist husband and a mad springer spaniel. She has had three novels published in Germany – the first of which was made into a film. She is the author of ‘Molly’s Millions’. Her latest book is A Weekend With Mr Darcy, the first in a trilogy about Jane Austen addicts.
Miranda Dickinson
Interview conducted in November 2010.
Miranda Dickinson has always had a head full of stories. From an early age she dreamed of writing a book that would make the heady heights of Kingswinford Library. Following a Performance Art degree, she began to write in earnest when a friend gave her The World’s Slowest PC. She is also a singer-songwriter. Her first novel, Fairytale of New York was a Sunday Times Top 10 title.
Lucy Dillon
Interview conducted in November 2009.
Lucy Dillon was born in Cumbria in 1974. She now divides her time between London and the Wye Valley. She recently adopted a basset hound named Violet. She is the author of The Ballroom Class, Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts and Walking Back To Happiness, the latter of which is released in December 2010.
Matt Dunn
Interview conducted in October 2009.
Born and brought up in Margate, Matt Dunn now lives in London. He has worked as a professional lifeguard, fitness-equipment salesman and, most recently, an IT headhunter, where his skill in re-writing CVs made him think he might have a talent for fiction. Visit www.mattdunn.co.uk. His latest book The Good Bride Guide was released in 2009 and his next book, the third to feature Dan and Ed, The Proposal is out in 2011.
Laura Elliot 
Interview conducted in July 2010.
Laura Elliot is the pseudonym of children’s writer and journalist June Considine. She is already a bestseller in her native Ireland. Under her pseudonym, she is the author of two novels, The Prodigal Sister and Stolen Child.
Katie Fforde
Interview conducted in May 2009.
Katie Fforde lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and some of her three children. Recently her old hobbies of ironing and housework have given way to singing, Flamenco dancing and husky racing. She claims this keeps her fit. She is the author of 16 novels, most recently A Perfect Proposal, with her 17th due out in 2011.
Giselle Green
Interview conducted in January 2010.
Brought up on the island of Gibraltar, Giselle Green moved to London to attend university. Giselle is now a full-time mum to six boys, including twins, and a part-time astrologer who specialises in medieval astrology. A Sister’s Gift is Giselle’s third novel following Little Miracles and Pandoras Box.
Kate Harrison
Interview conducted in July 2009.
Before becoming a successful author, Kate Harrison worked as a TV director on various programmes including Panorama. She is the author of the briliant Secret Shopper series - shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Comedy Romance Award - as well as several standalone novels. Her next book, The Secret Shopper Affair will be released in 2011.
Amanda Hearty
Interview conducted in April 2010
Amanda Hearty lives in Blackrock, Co. Dublin with her husband Michael and their little daughter Holly. Amanda works in busy Dublin publishers, and studied Commerce in UCD and has a Masters in Marketing from the Smurfit School of Business, Dublin. Growing up in a house full of books, writing, dreams and ideas, and with her mother Marita Conlon-McKenna being a very successful author it was inevitable Amanda would finally put pen to paper and begin to write herself. Her first novel, Are You Ready?, was also published by Transworld Ireland.
Lisa Heidke
Interview conducted in November 2009.
Lisa Heidke studied journalism at Queensland University, fled Brisbane and settled in Sydney where she worked in book and magazine publishing. After many years living in Sydney’s inner west, Lisa woke up one morning to find herself married with three children and living on the North Shore. In 2006, Lisa’s THIS WIFE’S LIFE was shortlisted for the Varuna/Harper Collins MANUSCRIPT Awards and then in 2007, LUCY SPRINGER’S STORY was shortlisted.
Veronica Henry
Interview conducted in July 2009.
Veronica Henry has worked as a scriptwriter for The Archers, Heartbeat and Holby City amongst many others, before turning to fiction. Her fourth novel, AN ELIGIBLE BACHELOR, was shortlisted for the RNA Novel of the Year Award. Veronica lives with her family in a village in North Devon, where she has recently learnt to surf.
Melissa Hill
Interview conducted in July 2009.
Melissa Hill lives with her husband Kevin and their dog Homer in Monkstown, Co Dublin. Her previous books, Something You Should Know, Not What You Think, Never Say Never,Wishful Thinking and All Because of You have all been bestsellers and are widely translated. For more information, visit her website at www.melissahill.info. Her latest book is The Truth About You which was released in 2010 with her next novel Something From Tiffany’s due out in 2011.
Rachel Hore
Interview conducted in August 2010.
Rachel Hore worked in London publishing for many years before moving with her family to Norwich, where she teaches publishing at UEA. She is married to writer D. J. Taylor and they have three sons. Her novels include A Place of Secrets, The Glass Painter’s Daughter, The Dream House and The Memory Garden.
Amanda Howells
Interview conducted in August 2010.
Amanda Howells grew up on a small bay on the Atlantic Ocean and spent summer weekends in the Hamptons while a college student in New York City, where she studied creative writing. She has published many stories for teen and adult readers and now lives in the pacific Northwest. The Summer of Skinny Dipping is her first YA novel.
Tara Hyland
Interview conducted in March 2010.
Tara Hyland was born in Surrey in 1976. She studied History at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, and then worked in the City for several years before leaving to write full time. She currently lives in London with her husband, Tom. Daughters of Fortune is her first novel.
Milly Johnson
Interview conducted in May 2009.
Five-foot-tall Milly Johnson is a half Barnsley, half Glaswegian writer of greetings cards, novels and shopping lists featuring gin and buns. When not writing she is either reading, learning Italian, mixing with the Yorkshire glitterati, getting up the council’s nose about a Dodworth Road Pedestrian Crossing or ironing school clothes. She lives with her two boys and a quartet of mad animals near her Mam and Dad in the middle of Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
Belinda Jones
Interview conducted in June 2010.
Following ten years as a magazine journalist and travel editor, Belinda Jones began writing novels inspired by her adventures. Her first – DIVAS LAS VEGAS– was voted number two in the New Woman Bloody Good Read Awards while her personal love quest – ON THE ROAD TO MR RIGHT – became a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. Belinda divides her time between Los Angeles, London and her boyfriend’s ever-changing naval base. But one day she’d like to be in one place long enough to have a big fluffy dog. LIVING LA VIDA LOCA is her eighth novel.
Lindsey Kelk
Interview conducted in August 2009.
Lindsey Kelk has been writing since she was six, when she read all the books in her room and decided to write a new one. The Adventures of Tellina the Superhero Teddy Bear, was tragically never published. Twenty-two years later, she works as a children’s book editor in London. She has ghost written books for Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen and also writes a successful beauty blog.
Sophie Kinsella
Interview conducted in September 2010.
Sophie Kinsella is an international bestselling writer and former financial journalist. She is the author of eight number one bestselling novels including the fabulously popular Shopaholic series, the first of which is now the hit Hollywood movie Confessions of a Shopaholic. She is also the author of several bestselling novels under the name of Madeleine Wickham. She lives in London with her husband and family. Visit her website at www.sophiekinsella.co.uk.
Dorothy Koomson
Interview conducted in February 2010
Dorothy has two degrees, is a journalist, and has written for numerous women’s magazines and newspapers, including the Guardian, New Woman and Cosmo. Her first novel for Sphere, My Best Friend’s Girl, was picked as a Richard & Judy Summer Read. Her latest novel is The Ice-Cream Girls, which was released in 2010, with her next book The Woman He Loved Before due out in 2011.
Julia Llewellyn
Interview conducted in February 2010.
Julia Llewellyn is the author of The Love Trainer, If I Were You, Amy’s Honeymoon and The Model Wife, all published as Penguin paperbacks. As Julia Llewellyn Smith she writes regularly for the Sunday Telegraph, the Sunday Times and many other publications. Julia lives in London with her family. Her latest novel is Love Nest which was released in February 2010.
Mary Malone
Interview conducted in October 2009.
Mary Malone lives in Bandon, Co. Cork with her husband, Pat, her sons, David and Mark, and their golden labrador, Prince. Never Tear Us Apart is her third novel. For more information about Mary see www.marymalone.ie. Her next book Love is the Reason will be released in late 2010.
Chrissie Manby
Interview conducted in June 2010.
Chrissie Manby is the author of fourteen romantic comedy novels including Crazy in Love and Getting Over Mr Right. Raised in Gloucester, Chrissie now lives in London. Her life is a tragic merry-go-round of parties, spa breaks and buying shoes. Her next novel What I Did On My Holidays is due for released in February 2010.
Carole Matthews
Interview conducted in February 2010.
Carole Matthews’ fabulously funny romantic fiction enthrals readers throughout the world. She is a USA Today and Sunday Times bestseller and her work has been translated into twenty languages and sold to Hollywood. Carole lives in Milton Keynes with her partner, lovely Kev. When she’s not writing her novels, she travels to far-flung places, chats to her fans on Facebook and eats chocolate. Her latest novel is The Only Way Is Up, released in September 2010.
Martel Maxwell
Interview conducted in April 2010.
Martel Maxwell is a journalist, television and radio presenter, who regularly appears on GMTV, Sky, BBC 3 and Five as a showbiz expert and pundit. She worked on the Sun’s showbiz column, Bizarre, for four memorable years, interviewing all the major Hollywood stars. This is her first novel.
Abby McDonald
Interview conducted in July 2010.
Twenty-four year old Abby McDonald grew up in Sussex, England and studied Politics, Philosophy & Economics at Oxford University. She began writing at college, becoming music editor of the Oxford Student and completing her first novel. She has since worked as a music journalist and entertainment critic, interviewing acts as diverse as LeAnn Rimes, The Kings of Leon, and Marilyn Manson. Her writing has appeared in the NME, Plan B magazine, CosmoGirl!, and a variety of websites and blogs. Her previous books are The Popularity Rules and the young adult book Life Swap.
Anna McPartlin
Interview conducted in October 2010
Anna McPartlin’s life and her writing are all about finding humour and humanity in even the darkest situations. Her experience of losing her parents at a young age has given her a profound understanding of loss, surviving it and making the very best of life. Before becoming a full-time writer Anna was, among other things, a stand-up comedian and a claims adjuster. As well as novels, she writes TV comedy drama. She is in her mid-thirties and lives just outside Dublin with her husband, a musician.
Clodagh Murphy was born in Dublin in 1961. She moved to London in the 1980s and lived there for several years. She currently lives in Dublin with her beloved laptop. She is an aunt to five nephews and one niece. Girl in a Spin is her second novel, following her debut novel The Disengagement Ring.
Fiona O’Brien
Interview conducted in September 2009.
Fiona O’Brien lives in Dublin. She began her career in advertising, finding a happy outlet for her ‘off the wall – but on the mark’ creative talents. She worked in both Ogilvy & Mather and J Walter Thompson in London and later in Bell and DDFH&B Advertising in Dublin as an award-winning copywriter. Fiona left advertising to write full time. Without Him is her third novel with Hachette Books Ireland.
Sheila O’Flanagan
Interview conducted in August 2009.
Sheila O’Flanagan pursued a very successful career in banking before becoming a full-time writer. In her spare time she plays badminton at competition level and she is currently a director of the Irish Sports Council. Stand By Me is her latest novel and was released in September 2010 and her latest short story collection, A Season To Remember, will be released in October 2010.
Adele Parks
Interview conducted in July 2010.
Adele Parks worked in advertising until she published her first novel, PLAYING AWAY, in 2000; which was the debut bestseller of that year. Adele has gone on to publish nine novels in nine years, and all of her novels have been top ten bestsellers. Since 2006 Adele has been an official spokeswoman for World Book Day. Adele has spent her adult life in Italy, Botswana and London. Until 2005 when she moved to Guildford, where she now lives with her husband and son. They are currently building their dream home. She’s a trustee of Guildford Book Festival.
Tasmina Perry
Interview conducted in August 2010.
Tasmina Perry is one of the UK`s most exciting novelists today. She exploded on to the scene in 2006 when her first novel DADDY`S GIRLS became an instant Sunday Times bestseller, and her subsequent novels have all been Sunday Times bestsellers. She has been published in seventeen countries. Tasmina left a career in law for the world of women`s magazine journalism, and has written on celebrity and style for magazines such as Marie Claire, Glamour and Heat. She was Deputy Editor of Instyle magazine, and also launched her own travel and fashion magazine Jaunt. Tasmina Perry is married, with a son, and lives in Surrey.
Karen Quinn
Interview conducted in May 2009.
After losing a big corporate job, Karen Quinn helped found Smart City Kids, a New York-based company dedicated to guiding families through the application process to Manhattan’s most competitive schools. Now a full-time writer, she lives in New York CIty. Visit www.karenquinn.net. Her latest novel, The Sister Diaries, was released in 2009.
Carmen Reid
Interview conducted in August 2009.
Carmen Reid has worked as a newspaper journalist and columnist, but now writes fiction full-time. Carmen also writes a series for teen readers, Secrets at St Judes. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland with her husband and two children. She is the author of the successful Annie Valentine series of books: The Personal Shopper, Late Night Shopping, How Not To Shop, Celebrity Shopper and New York Valentine which is due out in 2011.
Jessica Ruston
Interview conducted in November 2009.
Jessica Ruston was born in Warwickshire. Her career began in the worlds of theatre, film and publishing and she has written screenplays and two non-fiction books. Her debut novel Luxury was highly acclaimed. Jessica lives in London with her husband. For everything you need to know about Jessica, visit her website www.jessicaruston.com. Her second novel, To Touch The Stars, is due out in 2010.
Olivia Ryan
Interview conducted in October 2009.
Olivia Ryan lives in Essex with her husband and three daughters. Before becoming a full-time mum, and now a novelist, she worked as a secretary, spending her lunch breaks writing stories and poetry. Olivia also writes novels under the name of Sheila Norton.
Ruth Saberton
Interview conducted in April 2010.
Ruth Saberton was born in London in 1972. A chance meeting with a stranger while holidaying in Cornwall resulted in Ruth marrying a fisherman and moving to beautiful Polperro, near Plymouth. In between writing novels and short stories, Ruth also teaches Media Studies and English at a Cornwall secondary school. Katy Carter Wants A Hero is her debut novel with Second Thoughts due out in 2011. She also writes a series of Little Black Dress books under the pseudonym of Jessica Fox.
Patricia Scanlan
Interview conducted in December 2009.
Patricia Scanlan lives in Dublin and loves spending Christmas with her family. Her books, all Number One bestsellers, include Two For Joy, Double Wedding, Divided Loyalties, Forgive and Forget and Happy Ever After. Her latest book is Coming Home with her next book, Love and Marriage, out in 2011.
Janet Skeslien Charles
Interview conducted in September 2010.
Originally from Montana, Janet Skeslien Charles divides her time between France and the States. Moonlight in Odessa was inspired by her two years in Odessa as a Soros Fellow. This is her debut novel which recently won the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance in 2010.
Allie Spencer
Interview conducted in April 2010.
Allie Spencer is an author with many strings to her bow. Before becoming a full-time writer, Allie Spencer gained a B.A. in English Literature and an M.A. in Medieval Studies, then qualified as a barrister, practising in family and matrimonial law. Her debut novel, TUG OF LOVE won the 2009 RNA New Writers’ Award. Allie has recently moved to Random House publishers with a new novel Summer Loving out in 2011.
Paige Toon
Interview conducted in July 2009.
PAIGE TOON grew up in Australia, America and England - thanks to her much-travelled Le Mans winner dad, Vern Schuppan. For over seven years, Paige has worked at heat Magazine as Reviews Editor. Paige is married and has a son, born in September 2007. She lives in north London and is the author of Lucy in the Sky, Johnny Be Good, Chasing Daisy and Pictures of Lily. She’s currently working on the sequel to Johnny Be Good which is due out in 2011.
Charlotte Ward
Interview conducted in December 2009.
Charlotte Ward was a print journalist for almost a decade and is now a full-time freelance writer. IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU is her second book. She is happily settled with The Beau, and lives in London and is currently working on the Glee annual.
Julia Williams
Interview conducted in October 2009
Julia has always made up stories in her head, and until recently she thought everyone else did too. She grew up in London, one of eight children, including a twin sister. She married Dave, a dentist, in 1989, and they have four daughters. After the birth of the second, Julia went freelance and decided to try her hand at writing. Her current novel was inspired by the allotments which her garden backs on to, and by growing her own produce.
Cathy Woodman
Interview conducted in October 2010.
Cathy Woodman began her working life as a small animal vet before turning to writing fiction. She won the Harry Bowling First Novel Award in 2002 and is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. She is also a sessional lecturer in Animal Management at a local college for land-based industries. Trust Me, I’m a Vet is the first of a series about Talyton St George, a fictional market town in beautiful East Devon where Cathy lived as a child. Cathy now lives with her husband, two children, two ponies, three exuberant Border Terriers and two cats in a village near Winchester, Hampshire.
