Stef Penney (born 1965 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish filmmaker and novelist. She grew up in the Scottish capital and turned to film-making after a degree in Philosophy and Theology from

Bristol University The University of Bristol is a public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Bristol, which had ...

. She made three short films before studying Film and TV at Bournemouth College of Art, and on graduation was selected for the

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Tele ...

New Writers Scheme. She has also written and directed two short films; a BBC 10 x 10 starring

Anna Friel Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. She first achieved fame as Beth Jordache in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' (1993–1995), later coming to international prominence with her role as Charlotte "Chuck" Charle ...

and a Film Council Digital Short in 2002 starring Lucy Russell. She won the 2006 Costa Book Awards and The Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Award with her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

'' The Tenderness of Wolves,'' which is set in Canada in the 1860s. The novel starts with the discovery of the murder of a trapper, and then follows various events that occur as the murderer is sought. As Stef Penney suffered from

agoraphobia Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no way to escape. These situations can include public transit, shopping centers, crowds and q ...

at the time of writing this novel, she did all the research in the

libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

of London and never visited Canada. She has subsequently written ''The Invisible Ones'' (2011) and ''Under A Pole Star'' (2016); the latter was shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Book Awards. She has adapted three

Modesty Blaise ''Modesty Blaise'' is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talen ...

novels for BBC Radio.

Bibliography

* ''The Tenderness of Wolves'' (2006) * ''The Invisible Ones'' (2011) * ''Under a Pole Star'' (2016) * ''The Beasts of Paris'' (2023) * ''The Long Water'' (2024)

References

External links

* 1969 births Living people 21st-century Scottish novelists Costa Book Award winners Alumni of Arts University Bournemouth British women mystery writers 21st-century Scottish women writers {{UK-novelist-stub