Angela Clarke is a British author, columnist, and playwright who has written for ''

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'', ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', ''

The Vagenda ''The Vagenda'' was a feminist online magazine launched in January 2012. It used the tagline "Like ''King Lear'', but for girls," taken from '' Grazia'' magazine's summary of the film '' The Iron Lady'', starring Meryl Streep. ''The Vagenda'' wa ...

'', and '' The Wharf''. She wrote ''Daily Mail'' anonymous column "Confessions of a Fashionista", recounting her experience working as an agent in the fashion industry. In 2013, she revealed her identity when she published a memoir of the same name. Her debut play ''The Legacy'' premiered in June 2015 and her first fictional crime novel ''Follow Me'' was released in December 2015.

Education

Clarke is from

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, a city in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England, and grew up in

Redbourn Redbourn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, lying on Watling Street, from Harpenden, from St Albans and from Hemel Hempstead. The civil parish had a population of 5,113 according to the 2011 Census. The three tiers of ...

and

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, attending Redbourn Junior School and

Roundwood Park School Roundwood Park School is a mixed, 11-18 secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status situated in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, UK. Opened in 1956, it currently has around 1300 pupils, most of whom live in the local a ...

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

. She studied English and European literature at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

and completed the "Advances in Scriptwriting" course at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sen ...

Career

Clarke is an author, columnist, and playwright who has written for ''

'', ''

'', and '' The Wharf''. She has written ''The Wharf'' "Blonde's Eye View" column since 2003. Prior to becoming a writer, she worked as a creative agent in the fashion industry for ten years. ''Daily Mail'' published her anonymous column "Confessions of a Fashionista", in which she wrote about her experience working in the industry. Clarke revealed her identity and true account with the release of her best-selling memoir of the same name, which was published by

Virgin Books Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm ...

in January 2013. ''Chugging for Kittens'', Clarke's single-scene playlet about two people collecting donations for a cat charity, premiered in 2015. Her debut full-length play ''The Legacy'', which is set in Harpenden, premiered at

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

's Hope Theatre in June 2015. The comedy drama is about a feminist activist living in the suburbs. In July 2015, Clarke was awarded the Young Stationers' Prize for "achievement and promise in writing and publishing". She signed a two-book deal with Avon, an

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

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, in October 2015. Her debut fictional crime novel ''Follow Me'' was released in December 2015. Its narrative includes the "Hashtag Murderer", an

Internet troll In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the int ...

who leaves clues online about possible victims. Clarke has been a victim of online harassment herself, especially after writing an article about feminism for ''The Guardian''. The book sold more than 12,000 copies in the first three weeks and reached number 43 on the paperback fiction chart. In January 2016, Clarke hosted the book's launch event at

Waterstones Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized Wa ...

in St Albans. That same month, ''Follow Me'' was named

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

's "Debut of the Month". Clarke was longlisted for the Crime Writers Association's 2016 Dagger in the Library Award, and ''Follow Me'' was short listed for the Dead Good's "Papercut Award for Best Page Turner". Her book ''Watch Me'' is scheduled to be published in January 2017. In addition to writing, Clarke works as a reader for

The Literary Consultancy The Literary Consultancy (TLC) is a UK-based editorial consultancy service that was founded in 1996, becoming the first service of its kind to offer "professional, in-depth editorial advice and assessment to anyone writing in the English languag ...

and is a public speaker. In 2013, she discussed her book ''Confessions of a Fashionista'' at the inaugural St Albans Fashion Week (SAFW). She returned to SAFW the following year to host the VIP dinner event "Sharing a taxi with Alexander McQueen and other stories". In 2014, she participated in "A Girls' Night Out" alongside three women's fiction novelists as part of the inaugural St Albans Literary Festival. She was on the festival's "Killer Women Crime Fiction Panel" in 2016. In September 2016, she was a panellist at the crime writing festival Noirwich and participated in the School of Logical Progression's (

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

) "Meet a Mentor Programme".

Personal life

Clarke is married to economist Sam Williams. In April 2012, Clarke was diagnosed with Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (EDS) III, an inherited

connective tissue Connective tissue is one of the four primary types of animal tissue, along with epithelial tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue. It develops from the mesenchyme derived from the mesoderm the middle embryonic germ layer. Connective tiss ...

disorder caused by a defect in the structure, production, or processing of

collagen Collagen () is the main structural protein in the extracellular matrix found in the body's various connective tissues. As the main component of connective tissue, it is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up from 25% to 35% of the whole ...

or proteins that interact with collagen. She has said about her disorder: "My condition has made me look at things in a different way. But it is also a good thing because I'm white, middle class and live in St Albans, I'm comfortable – all things that make me pretty standard, and having a disability makes me other, and gives me different viewpoint on things and that's a good thing when you are writing."

List of works

Books

* ''Confessions of a Fashionista: The Good, the Bad and the Botox'' (2013) * ''Follow Me'' (2015) * ''Watch Me'' (2017)

Plays

* ''Chugging for Kittens'' (2015), a one-scene playlet * ''The Legacy'' (2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Angela Living people 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British women writers Alumni of RADA Alumni of the University of Essex British columnists British women dramatists and playwrights People from Harpenden People from St Albans People with Ehlers–Danlos syndrome British women columnists Year of birth missing (living people)