Angela Clarke (author)

Clarke is from St Albans, a city in Hertfordshire, England, and grew up in Redbourn and Watford, attending Redbourn Junior School and Roundwood Park School in Harpenden.[2][3][4][5] She studied English and European literature at the University of Essex and completed the "Advances in Scriptwriting" course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[6]

Clarke is an author, columnist, and playwright who has written for Cosmopolitan, Daily Mail, The Guardian,[7] The Independent, The Vagenda,[8] and The Wharf.[6][9][10] She has written The Wharf's "Blonde's Eye View" column since 2003.[11]

Prior to becoming a writer, she worked as a creative agent in the fashion industry for ten years.[1][6][8][12] Daily Mail published her anonymous column "Confessions of a Fashionista", in which she wrote about her experience working in the industry.[13][14][15] Clarke revealed her identity and true account with the release of her best-selling memoir of the same name, which was published by Virgin Books in January 2013.[12][16]

Chugging for Kittens, Clarke's single-scene playlet about two people collecting donations for a cat charity, premiered in 2015.[17][18][19] Her debut full-length play The Legacy, which is set in Harpenden,[2][20] premiered at Islington's Hope Theatre in June 2015.[6][21][22] The comedy drama is about a feminist activist living in the suburbs.[20] In July 2015, Clarke was awarded the Young Stationers' Prize for "achievement and promise in writing and publishing".[2][6][23] She signed a two-book deal with Avon, an imprint of HarperCollins, in October 2015.[24]

Her debut fictional crime novel Follow Me was released in December 2015.[6] Its narrative includes the "Hashtag Murderer", an Internet troll who leaves clues online about possible victims.[25][26] Clarke has been a victim of online harassment herself, especially after writing an article about feminism for The Guardian.[3][25][14] The book sold more than 12,000 copies in the first three weeks and reached number 43 on the paperback fiction chart.[27] In January 2016, Clarke hosted the book's launch event at Waterstones in St Albans. That same month, Follow Me was named Amazon.com's "Debut of the Month".[28] Clarke was longlisted for the Crime Writers Association's 2016 Dagger in the Library Award,[29] and Follow Me was short listed for the Dead Good's "Papercut Award for Best Page Turner".[30] Her book Watch Me is scheduled to be published in January 2017.[31][32][33]

In addition to writing, Clarke works as a reader for The Literary Consultancy and is a public speaker.[9][34][35] In 2013, she discussed her book Confessions of a Fashionista at the inaugural St Albans Fashion Week (SAFW).[4] She returned to SAFW the following year to host the VIP dinner event "Sharing a taxi with Alexander McQueen and other stories".[36][37] In 2014, she participated in "A Girls' Night Out" alongside three women's fiction novelists as part of the inaugural St Albans Literary Festival.[38] She was on the festival's "Killer Women Crime Fiction Panel" in 2016.[31] In September 2016, she was a panellist at the crime writing festival Noirwich and participated in the School of Logical Progression's (Royal Society of Arts) "Meet a Mentor Programme".[39]

Clarke is married to economist Sam Williams.[1]

In April 2012, Clarke was diagnosed with Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS) III, an inherited connective tissue disorder caused by a defect in the structure, production, or processing of collagen or proteins that interact with collagen.[1][9][12] She has said about her disorder: "My condition has made me look at things in a different way. But it is also a good thing because I'm white, middle class and live in St Albans, I'm comfortable – all things that make me pretty standard, and having a disability makes me other, and gives me different viewpoint on things and that's a good thing when you are writing."[3]