Sara Sheridan

Sara Sheridan (born 7 June 1968) is a Scottish activist and writer who works in a variety of genres, though predominately in historical fiction. She is the creator of the Mirabelle Bevan mysteries.

Sara Sheridan
Born (1968-06-07) 7 June 1968
Edinburgh, Scotland
OccupationWriter
NationalityScottish
GenreNovels, Historical, Crime
Notable worksBrighton Belle
Website
www.sarasheridan.com

Biography

Born Sara Louise Goodwin, Sheridan comes from Edinburgh and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin.[1][2][3] She is a former member of the Society of Authors Committee for Scotland[4] and the Crime Writers Association. From 2009 to 2015 Sheridan sat on the board of writers' collective, '26'. She both managed and took part in the 26 Treasures projects which took place at the V&A, Kensington, the Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh and the Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh. The resulting book, 26 Treasures won the Literature Category at the British Design Awards 2013. Sheridan also ran the organisation's annual charity advent calendar, 26 Stories for Christmas.

Work

Sheridan's first book, contemporary commercial fiction, Truth or Dare entered the Sunday Times top 50 when it was published in 1998. It was nominated for the Saltire Prize and was also listed in the Scottish Libraries Top 100 Books. In the successive two years Sheridan wrote two more novels in the same genre, Ma Polinski's Pockets and The Pleasure Express. During this period, she also co-wrote two short films, Fish Supper[5] starring Lynda Bellingham and The Window Bed, which was nominated for a Sky Movies Max Award in 2001. She was then commissioned by specialist publisher Barrington Stoke to write a novella for reluctant readers, called The Blessed and The Damned.[6]

In 2003, she switched genres to historical fiction and funded the move by ghostwriting. She now writes two series of historical novels: one based on the real lives of late Georgian/early Victorian adventurers (The Secret Mandarin – 2009, Secret of the Sands – 2011, On Starlit Seas – 2016, The Ice Maiden - 2018) and a series of 1950s cosy crime noir mysteries featuring her fictional ex-secret service heroine, Mirabelle Bevan (Brighton Belle – 2012, London Calling – 2014, British Bulldog – 2015, Operation Goodwood – 2016, Russian Roulette – 2017','Indian Summer – 2019 and Highland Fling 2020). The Mirabelle Bevan Mysteries were optioned by STV in 2015 and are now in development. In 2017 On Starlit Seas was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize. Sheridan has also written a children's picture book, (I'm Me – 2010) which was inspired by her relationship with her niece and a pan-European picture book written with her daughter (Monsters Unite - 2019).

Sheridan occasionally appears as a commenter on TV and radio in the UK.[7] She has reported from both Tallinn, Estonia[8] and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates[9] for BBC Radio 4.[10] She has contributed to several British newspapers, including writing blog articles for The Guardian in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.[11][12] She has also appeared, talking about history and feminism on RTE radio in 2017 and 2018.

In 2013 she appeared on The History of the Lady on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. Sheridan also writes blog articles for the Huffington Post[13][14][15] and occasionally writes for the BBC online [16] and as a cultural commentator on BBC Radio Scotland. She also writes TV-tie in books. One for the second series of ITV's hit drama series, "Victoria" based on the life of Queen Victoria (2017) and most recently for ITV's adaptation of Jane Austen's last, unfinished novel: Sanditon (2019). She has also written non-fiction for Historic Environment Scotland (Where are the Women? An imagined female atlas of Scotland - 2019), which was included in the David Hume Institute's First Minister's Summer Reading List 2019.[17]

A portrait of her by Scottish artist, Sophie Mckay Knight the result of a creative collaboration, was featured by The Guardian Art & Design column in 2015[18] before going on to public exhibition in the National Gallery of Scotland.

In 2016 Sara co-founded REEK.[19] with her daughter, make up artist, Molly Sheridan – a fragrance company that speaks out against the lack of female memorialisation throughout history and challenges beauty industry norms. REEK's fragrances memorialise 'heroic, unapologetic and passionate women from history to the present day' and its first scent was launched in 2016 in memory of the Jacobite women. It has been called the 'first feminist fragrance'. In 2017 the company launched an eau de parfum in celebration of the memory of witches.

Bibliography

Novels

  • Truth or Dare (1998)
  • Ma Polinski’s Pockets (1999)
  • The Pleasure Express (2001)
  • The Blessed and the Damned (2002)
  • The Secret Mandarin (2009)
  • Secret of the Sands (2010)
  • Brighton Belle (2012)
  • London Calling (2013)
  • England Expects (2014)
  • British Bulldog (2015)
  • Operation Goodwood (2016)
  • On Starlit Seas (2016)
  • Russian Roulette (2017)
  • The Ice Maiden (2018)
  • Indian Summer (2019)
  • Highland Fling (2020)

Children's Picture Books

  • I'm Me (2010)
  • Monsters Unite (2019)

Non-fiction Books

  • Victoria and Albert: A Royal Love Affair (2017)
  • Where are the Women? (2019)
  • The World of Sanditon (2019)[20]

Short story collections

  • Girls About Town (1999)
  • Sexy Shorts for Summer (2000)
  • Bloody Scotland (2017)
  • Hot Blood, Cold Blood (2020)

References
  1. "Sara Sheridan, author of the 1950s-set Mirabelle Bevan mystery series ('Miss Marple with an edge') picks her favourite historical crime fiction, including books by Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey and Caleb Carr". Foyles. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  2. Archipelago, World. "Sara Sheridan". HarperCollins UK. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  3. Sheridan, Sara (20 March 2012). Brighton Belle: A Mirabelle Bevan Mystery. Birlinn. ISBN 9780857901866.
  4. "Sara Sheridan, author of the 1950s-set Mirabelle Bevan mystery series ('Miss Marple with an edge') picks her favourite historical crime fiction, including books by Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey and Caleb Carr". Foyles. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  5. "SS Short Films: Fish Supper".
  6. http://www.aaaedinburgh.co.uk/5261-2/
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 September 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00jq0d2/From_Our_Own_Correspondent_Libya_and_Estonia/
  9. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00mbwkb
  10. BBC Radio 4’s "From Our Own Correspondent".
  11. https://www.theguardian.com/edinburgh/2011/mar/01/edinburgh-sara-sheridan-secret-sands-history
  12. https://www.theguardian.com/edinburgh/2011/mar/10/edinburgh-sara-sheridan-secret-sands-gay-rights
  13. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sara-sheridan/who-do-you-think-you-are_b_3266193.html
  14. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sara-sheridan/writers-earnings-cultural-myth_b_3136859.html
  15. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sara-sheridan/how-scotland-nurtures-its-writing-talent_b_3717674.html
  16. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-31663862
  17. "First Minister's Reading List 2019 Launch". David Hume Institute. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  18. "A look inside the artist's studio: Sophie McKay Knight paints Sara Sheridan". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  19. https://www.urbanreivers.scot/reek/
  20. "Trapeze pre-empts Sanditon TV tie-in books | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
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