Claire Parkin

Claire was born and brought up in a village just outside Cardiff, and graduated from King’s College London with an MA in 19th Century English and American Literature. She worked as a journalist on women’s general-interest magazines for many years, writing for Essentials, Woman & Home and Candis, where she was known for being able to turn her hand to pretty much anything – from interviewing boxing champs and war correspondents, to learning how to pole dance and the correct way to iron a shirt. Other career highlights include taste-testing eight varieties of mince pie during an August heatwave, begging Victoria Beckham to donate a dress to a charity raffle, and visiting six second-hand car dealerships in one afternoon, in a bid to expose sexism in the motoring industry.

She turned to fiction after the birth of her twin son and daughter. Three of her short stories have been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, and one was runner-up in the Fiction Desk Newcomer of the Year Award (2016). She is currently working on her second novel, Tell Tale, about a troubled ten-year-old girl who manipulates rising community tensions for her own amusement.

Claire lives in London with her husband and children. When she’s not writing, she’s a passionate Parkrunner, container-gardener and baker of calorific goods. After a break of several years, she’s finally enjoying mince pies again.