I grew up in Fife and graduated from St Andrews University before moving to South Gloucestershire where I worked in Higher Education libraries until I decided to devote myself to writing. My books are strongly influenced by my Scottish roots, although it was while working in the Bodleian Library in Oxford that I found a cache of early photographs which sparked a life-long interest in photography and led to my first historical novel In the Blink of an Eye inspired by the iconic photographic partnership of Hill and Adamson.
Since then I’ve been bitten by the history bug and I’m still creating fiction around the lives of real people, choosing historical characters whose lives speak to me and whom I hope I will speak to my readers.
My current novel (still in progress) centres on a woman who was the first love of writer Robert Louis Stevenson. In the 1870s he wrote her hundreds of letters despite being in a long-term relationship with one of his closest friends. It’s particularly fascinating for me, as one of my ancestors knew Stevenson in his younger days and appears in this celebratory book. Look our for Charles Lowe, or ‘Yon Chae’ as our family refer to him!
Short stories
I write short fiction in a variety of genres and have performed my work at events in Bristol, Bath and Gloucestershire. I’m a member of Just Write Bristol and help judge the highly regarded Stroud Short Stories event.
In 2017 I was thrilled to win the Evesham Festival of Words Adult Short Story Competition with The Bird of Wax which forms part of In the Blink of an Eye and in 2019 I was the first winner of the Bristol Short Story Prize Sansom Award (Local Writer) with Within These Walls, the story of an eleventh century nun.
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Ali Bacon / Books and Other Things 