Ann Cleeves: In conversation with Louise Penny

Award-winning author Ann Cleeves' newest crime/mystery story,The Dark Wives, in the Vera Stanhope's series, will be released this August 29, 2024!

Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.

While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing.

In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for many of her subsequent titles. And in the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their ambition of moving back to the North East.

For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the 'Inside Books' project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.

In February 2016, Ann was delighted to be appointed as a National Libraries Day Ambassador. She found time in her busy schedule because, she said: "Libraries matter. If we believe in equality of opportunity we must fight not just for the buildings but for the range of books inside and the skilled staff who can promote reading in all its forms. Not only do libraries encourage us to be more tolerant and better informed, they contribute enormously to the wealth of the nation."

In the same year, she was the first recipient of Iceland Noir's Honorary Award for Services to the Art of Crime Fiction. And scores of achievement awards, in recognition for her contribution to the world of literature and crime writing followed, in subsequent years. Included three Honorary Doctorate of Letters, from three distinguished Universities.

Sadly, in December 2017, Ann's husband Tim died suddenly in hospital, after being admitted for a heart condition.

Ann's books have been translated into twenty languages. In the autumn of 2016, Ann celebrated the publication of 30 novels in 30 years. She was awarded an OBE in the 2022 New Year Honours List, "for services to Reading and Libraries." And in July 2023, during the opening ceremony for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, Ann was presented with the Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award, in recognition of her impressive writing career.

If you would like to learn more about Ann Cleaves, visit: https://anncleeves.com/index.html