Laura Barnett

Laura’s first novel, The Versions of Us (2015), was a number-one bestseller; it has been translated into 24 languages, was shortlisted for Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards, and has been optioned for television by Trademark Films. Her second novel, Greatest Hits, was published in 2017, with an accompanying soundtrack album by the musician Kathryn Williams. Her third is to be published in summer 2019.

As a journalist, arts writer and theatre critic, she has written for a number of national newspapers and magazines, including the Guardian, the Observer and the Daily Telegraph. She has also taught creative writing for Guardian Masterclasses, delivered a TedX talk on originality in fiction, and worked as a writing mentor for the charity Arts Emergency. She joins Manchester Metropolitan University as Lecturer in Creative Writing in June 2018.

Photo credit: Chris O’Donovan.