Sarah Winman
Sarah Winman was an actress, working in theatre in her twenties and early thirties but by 1992 she decided that she wanted to write a novel. Later in 2008, while taking an ‘Exploring Fiction’ course at City Lit, Sarah realised she was already writing what went on to become her highly acclaimed debut, When God Was A Rabbit, a story about childhood, eccentricity, loss and love. This novel was an international bestseller which won Sarah multiple awards, including New Writer of the Year in the Galaxy National Book Awards and the Newton First Book Award.
Sarah's second novel, A Year of Marvellous Ways, is about the relationship between eighty-nine year old Marvellous, who lives alone in a remote Cornish creek, and Drake, a young soldier left reeling by the Second World War. When his promise to fulfil a dying man's last wish sees him wash up in Marvellous' creek, broken in body and spirit, the old woman comes to his aid. This novel was a Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller.
In her her book, Tin Man, Sarah explored the triangular relationship of Ellis and Michael, who have been inseparable since boyhood, and Annie, who walks into their lives, changing nothing and everything. It was published in the UK by Tinder Press in March 2017 and in the US by G.P. Putnam's Sons in May 2018.
Tin Man was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2017 and it has been longlisted for the Carnegie Medal of Excellence in the US. In August 2020 it was announced that film rights had been bought by Hillbilly Films.
Her most recent novel, Still Life, was published by 4th Estate in the UK in June 2021 to great critical acclaim. Amongst other notable awards, it was selected as the Dymocks Book of the Year 2021, the winner of the 2021 Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Fiction, Good Morning America’s November 2021 Book Club choice, the inaugural Inwords Literary Award, and for the Autumn 2021 series of BBC Book Club with Sara Cox. Currently, it has been sold in fourteen languages including the US, and has sold half a million copies worldwide to date.