{"id":17,"date":"2013-04-20T11:45:03","date_gmt":"2013-04-20T11:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/louisedoughty.com\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:35:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:35:02","slug":"biog","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/louisedoughty.com\/index.php\/biog\/","title":{"rendered":"biog"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Louise<\/h1>\n
\n

About Louise Doughty<\/h1>\n

Louise Doughty is an internationally bestselling novelist and screenwriter, the author of ten novels, one work of narrative non-fiction, a how-to-write guide, five plays for radio and a hit TV mini series. She has also written widely for newspapers and magazines both in the UK and worldwide and broadcasts regularly for the BBC. She lives in London.<\/p>\n

Louise Doughty was born in the East Midlands and grew up in Rutland, England\u2019s smallest county, a rural area that later provided the setting for her third novel, Honey-Dew<\/em> (1998). She attended Leeds University and the University of East Anglia, where she did the MA in Creative Writing course with Malcolm Bradbury and Angela Carter. She then moved to London and spent the rest of her twenties in a series of temporary jobs including teaching and secretarial work. It was her experiences as a temp secretary that provided the material for\u00a0Crazy Paving<\/em> (1995), a black comedy about accidents, Chaos Theory and urban terrorism. That was followed by\u00a0Dance With Me<\/em>\u00a0(1996), a novel about ghosts, mental illness and sexual betrayal, and\u00a0Honey-Dew<\/em>\u00a0(1998), a satire of the traditional English mystery. Doughty took a dramatic departure with her fourth novel, the internationally acclaimed\u00a0Fires in the Dark<\/em> (2003), about the mass murder of Romany people by the Nazis during the Second World War. It was followed by\u00a0Stone Cradle<\/em>\u00a0(2006), based on her own Romany ancestry, and\u00a0Whatever You Love<\/em> (2010), about a mother’s revenge on the driver of the car that killed her daughter. \u00a0Her seventh novel was the No 1 bestseller Apple Tree Yard<\/em> (2013), which has sold over half a million copies in the UK alone. \u00a0In 2007, she published her first work of non-fiction, A Novel in a Year<\/em>, based on her newspaper column of the same name. She has written major features, columns and cover articles for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Mail on\u00a0Sunday<\/em> and her broadcasting career includes presenting radio series such as BBC R4\u2032s\u00a0A Good Read<\/em>\u00a0and Writers\u2019 Workshop<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Louise Doughty is a member of the Folio Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.\u00a0 In 2019 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (D.Litt) from the University of East Anglia and another Honorary Doctorate (D.Litt) from the University of Leicester in 2022.\u00a0 She is a Trustee of the National Literacy Trust, the UK’s leading charity for the promotion of literacy.<\/p>\n

\u2018If you haven\u2019t got the Louise Doughty habit, get it now, she\u2019s the tops.\u2019<\/em><\/strong>
\nLondon Evening Standard on\u00a0Dance With Me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2018A good writer can create character. A good writer can handle a plot. A good writer can create imagery or metaphor and make you feel present in a scene. But only a great writer can do all these things at once. Louise Doughty is such a writer. \u2018<\/em><\/strong>
\nWestern Australian on\u00a0Fires in the Dark<\/em><\/p>\n

‘There can’t be a woman alive who hasn’t once realised, in a moment of panic, that she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong man. \u00a0Louise Doughty, more sure-footed with each novel, leads her unnerved reader into dark territory. \u00a0A compelling and bravely written book.’
\n<\/em><\/strong>Hilary Mantel on Apple Tree Yard<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About Louise Doughty Louise Doughty is an internationally bestselling novelist and screenwriter, the author of ten novels, one work of narrative non-fiction, a how-to-write guide, five plays for radio and a hit TV mini series. 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