‘Sharply observed and extremely funny’ – Hello! magazine
I’m a Sunday Times Bestselling author, playwright, columnist, screenwriter and public speaker. My debut crime thriller Follow Me was named Amazon’s Rising Star Debut of the Month January 2016, longlisted for the Crime Writer’s Association Dagger in the Library 2016, and shortlisted for the Dead Good Reader Page Turner Award 2016. Watch Me the second instalment in the Social Media Murder Series went straight into the UK paperback chart at number 15 in January 2017. Trust Me the third in the Social Media Series is due out in June 2017. My debut play The Legacy enjoyed a sell out run to rave reviews at The Hope Theatre, Islington in June 2015. The Daily Mail Online called The Legacy ‘witty, insightful and powerful ★★★★★’. And West End Wilma described it as ‘A fantastic debut ★★★★’. My memoir Confessions of a Fashionista is an Amazon Fashion Chart bestseller.
I hosted the current affairs show Outspoken on Radio Verulam for six months in 2014, and I have appeared regularly as a guest on BBC Three Counties, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4, and more. My journalist contributions include: The Guardian, Independent Magazine, The Daily Mail, Cosmopolitan, and Writing magazine. My satirical column Blonde’s Eye View has appeared in The Wharf newspaper since 2003. (It is the longest running relationship I have in my life, apart from that with my parents). From 2009 to 2012 I wrote the popular anonymous column Confessions of a Fashionista for the Daily Mail Online. Deborah Arthurs, Femail Editor, the Daily Mail Online, says: ‘As an insider Angela gives a rare and fascinating insight into the murky world of the fashion industry.’
I also work as a manuscript reader for The Literary Consultancy, and private clients. I’ve given talks, hosted events, and masterclasses for Camp Bestival, Panic! (in partnership with Create, the Barbican, Goldsmiths University and The Guardian), Meet a Mentor (in association with the Royal Society of Arts), Northwich Lit Fest, St Albans Lit Fest, BeaconLit, Noirwich Crime Writing Festival, the London College of Fashion, and HMP Thameside among others. In 2015 I was awarded the Young Stationers’ Prize for achievement and promise in writing and publishing (and then I got very drunk).
Oh, and I have a degenerative connective tissue disorder called Ehlers Danlos III, which does sometimes mess with my mobility. I have five different walking sticks ready for just such occasions. This has only fed my passionate belief we should encourage and support more marginalised voices into the creative industries, to truly reflect our diverse and rather fabulous society. I’m also very honoured to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
You can find me on Twitter, on Instagram, or on Facebook. I’m the one who should be working.
Ten Things About Me
1. I’m a writer. I’ve written a memoir, novels, screenplays and play scripts. Not necessarily in that order.
2. I’m not very good at saying no.
3. I landed my first column after drunkenly lecturing a newspaper editor on his lack of female writers.
4. I’m opinionated. Obvs.
4. I was inspired to write my debut crime novel Follow Me after I was trolled online. Revenge is a dish best served in a publishing deal…
5. I believe chocolate biscuits are a valid choice for breakfast.
6. I’ve written for The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail, Cosmopolitan, Writing Magazine and You Magazine among others.
7. I’m almost always late. Or lost. Or both.
8. I see my physio 2-3 times a week and complete an hours physio a day to help keep me mobile. And I never whinge. Or swear. Or binge watch Midsomer Murders and Murder, She Wrote because ‘I deserve it’. Nope. Nu-uh.
9. I studied Advances in Scriptwriting at RADA, and got freaked out by the people who sing as they walk down corridors.
10. I own enough books to build a double bed out of.
11. I would quite like to do that.
12. Maths was never my strong point.