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Helen Sedgwick

All of the information on this page has been provided by the author. If you need an author to have specialist skills, experience or knowledge please ask for more information about this ahead of booking them for an event. Please note that Scottish Book Trust cannot carry out Disclosure checks on Live Literature authors for most events. It is the responsibility of the person organising the event to carry out the appropriate Disclosure checks.
Contact: [email protected]
Local authority: Highland
Languages: English
Helen Sedgwick's headshot

I am the author of The Comet Seekers (Harvill Secker, 2016) and The Growing Season (Harvill Secker, 2017), which was shortlisted for the Saltire Society's Fiction Book of the Year. I'm currently writing a crime trilogy, the first book of which will be published by Oneworld in 2020.

I write fiction with a particular interest in science, biotechnology, feminism, diversity, history, alternative worlds, the uncanny, and the juxtaposition of science and technology with our imaginations and the unexplained.

I have taught creative writing at Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Strathclyde Universities, and various community projects. I also run Wildland Literary Editors, and was managing director of Cargo Publishing and managing editor of Gutter. Before becoming a writer, I was a research physicist in the bioengineering group at Glasgow University. 

I love giving book readings, Q&As, chairing events, sharing panels with authors and scientists, and teaching workshops. I'm lucky enough to perform regularly at events and book festivals, and am happy to host events and teach workshops about editing, publishing, and running literary magazines, and offer editorial advice and mentoring. I love talking about science, writing, society, and the combination of the three! (Photo credit: Michael Gallacher)

Local authorities will visit

Aberdeen City; Aberdeenshire; Angus; Argyll and Bute; Clackmannanshire; Dumfries and Galloway; Dundee; East Ayrshire; East Dunbartonshire; East Lothian; East Renfrewshire; Edinburgh City; Falkirk; Fife; Glasgow City; Highland; Inverclyde; Midlothian; Moray; Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles); North Ayrshire; North Lanarkshire; Orkney Islands; Perth and Kinross; Renfrewshire; Scottish Borders; Shetland; South Ayrshire; South Lanarkshire; Stirling; West Dunbartonshire; West Lothian

Events will deliver

Mentoring; Panel event; Performance; Reading; Residency; Talk; Workshop; Chairing events

Audience will work with

Adult learners

Topics of work

Adventure; Ageing; Characters of colour & BAME characters; Childhood; Class & society; Coasts, seas & oceans; Contemporary fiction; Crime fiction; Discrimination & prejudice; Editing & editing your own work; Fairy tales, folklore & mythology; Family; Fantasy; Friendship; Gender equality; Health including mental health & wellbeing; Historical fiction; History; Horror; Human rights; LGBTQIA+ characters; Loneliness & isolation; Love & romance; Music; Mystery & thriller; Nature; Politics; Publishing & getting published; Rural communities; Science; Science fiction

Age groups published for

Adults

Age groups will work with

18+

Audience size

0-10; 11-30; 31-100; 100-500; 500+