Biography of author Jess Richards
I'm a writer who was born in Wales in 1972. I grew up near Stranraer, in south west Scotland, and gained a first class honours degree in Visual Performance from Dartington College of Arts at the age of 21. After living and working in Brighton for many years, I attended a Creative Writing course at Sussex University in 2008-10.
My debut novel, Snake Ropes, was published by Sceptre in 2012, and was shortlisted for the Green Carnation Prize, the Costa First Novel Award and the Scottish Book Awards. I was awarded writing residencies at Cove Park in 2013 and at the Ardtornish Estate (in partnership with the Scottish Book Trust) in 2014.
My second novel, Cooking with Bones, was published by Sceptre in 2013/14. In 2014, I 'ran away from home' and became transient for two years. During this time I taught several Creative Writing courses for the Arvon Foundation and Moniack Mhor. I was awarded a Creative Scotland Artists' Bursary which enable me to work on my third novel. I also collaborated with the artist Sally J Morgan on a number of projects, and creative writing associated with this cooperation was published by the Scottish Book Trust and the UK Sunday Times.
In 2015 I moved to Wellington, New Zealand where I completed my third novel. City of Circles was published by Sceptre in August 2017 and was shortlisted for the Kitschies Awards (novel category) in 2018. After completing a PhD in 2020, I wrote Birds and Ghosts, a hybrid and experimental memoir, which was published in 2023 by Linen Press. I now live in Yorkshire with my wife and two cats, and work as a lecturer at the University of Leeds.
My published works
The following books are written by myself and published by Sceptre. They are available to purchase in hardback and paperback at Waterstones, Foyles, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, and other outlets.
Other writing by Jess Richards
More examples of my writing are collected together in the Pictures, Words & Tangles section of my blog. Here you can find unpublished short stories, snippets, musings, and other forms of creative writing, as well as a selection of the visual art I've created over the years.
As always, thank you for your support and your interest,
Jess x