Beginner’s Pluck: Helen Blackhurst

Helen was a big reader as a child, but initially theatre interested her more than writing. “I didn’t write stories as a child, but I have these notebooks with dialogue of animals talking.”

After university Helen travelled in Australia, working in various places and visiting the outback. It was when she was in Alice Springs, camping on a service station that the story for her debut took root.

From Australia, Helen lived in London for a while, working in drama in prisons. Then in 1995 she won a Guardian scholarship to study at Trinity College Dublin. She took an MPhil in literature. “It included a module in creative writing. I started the novel as a short story, and afterwards I just kept going. It took seven years to compete.”