Alison Huntingford - Using Your Family History to Write Fiction

Alison Huntingford has a degree in humanities with literature, and has always enjoyed reading, especially, the great writers of the 19th century, such as Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.

A great deal of her working life has been spent teaching English and maths to young people in the workplace. Frequently she has found herself trying to pass on her love of the classics to people who were born in the 21st Century!

Alison is an only child of two only children and so has always felt a distinct lack of family. This has inspired her to research her family history and most of her writing is based on this.

Her debut novel, The Glass Bulldog, was published in 2019, and was nominated for the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction.

A Ha’penny Will Do is her second full length novel, published in January 2022, although, she has also written several short stories.

Recently, she has started up the South Hams Authors Network in South Devon, to support and encourage other local authors like herself. She believes that if we all can connect in a friendly and open way then we can help each other to achieve great things. The group have given library readings, radio and press interviews and attended events.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and their pets, listening to music, going to the cinema, and gardening. She lives in Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor.