Dr Anna Ralph (Barker) is an award-winning novelist and journalist. Her first novel The Floating Island (Arrow, 2008) won a Betty Trask best debut award from the Society of Authors. It was inspired by the real floating island on Derwentwater in the Lake District and tells the story of Matt, a 15-year-old boy, who rows out to the island with his younger brother to plant a flag with disastrous consequences. Her second novel Before I Knew Him (Arrow, 2009) was also inspired by landscape, particularly the coast of Northumberland. Much of this novel, which was shortlisted for a Good Housekeeping Good Read award, drew upon the themes Anna had begun to explore in the first book: love, sexuality, memory, trauma, obsession and betrayal. She has also contributed to Writing Motherhood: a Creative Anthology on Motherhood and Writing edited by Carolyn Jess Cooke and the Book Lovers’ Appreciation Society, a collection of short stories by various authors. Before she embarked on her publishing career, Anna worked as a journalist, in public relations and as a copywriter. It is this extensive experience in varying forms of communication and her experience as a published author that feeds into her work with the Royal Literary Fund, teaching academic writing skills and mentoring students, both 1-1 and through workshops and writing retreats. She has also created a free academic writing app for students called Alex. Anna lives in Durham and holds a doctorate in Creative Writing from the University of Huddersfield. She is currently working on a novel called Switch, a psychological thriller. You can follow the process of its creation in her blog at anna barker.co.uk.