Sally Spedding
Sally Spedding was born by the sea near Porthcawl and, having trained in sculpture at Manchester and St Martin’s, London embarked upon a career as an exhibiting artist. Winning a major international short story competition, encouraged her to write while full-time teaching in Wales. Her award-winning crime novels and short stories explore the darkest hearts of people and places. France and Wales - both complex countries, feature in most of her work. Fction writers Friedrich Durrenmatt, Philippe Claudel, Pierre Magnan and Christophe Dufosse serve as her inspiration.
Sally's crime mystery, ‘Wringland,’(Pan) set on the sinister Fens, was published in 2001, followed by ‘Cloven’ in 2003. ‘A Night with No Stars’ was published in 2005, then ‘Prey Silence’ in 2006. Her fifth, ‘Come and be Killed,’ came out in January 2007. ‘Strangers Waiting,’ her first collection of short stories was published by Bristol-based publishers, bluechrome in February 2008. The paperback is due out shortly.
Her crime short stories have featured in two recent CWA anthologies - Best British Mysteries (ed. Maxim Jakubowski) and Crime on the Move (ed. Martin Edwards). Another short story set in France, ‘Sword Lilies’ will appear in February 2010 in Best British Crime Stories. (ed. Maxim Jakubowski.) Sally has just completed a crime novel set in the Pyrenees, and is currently working on one set in a remote area below the Cambrian Hills.
Sally is also a much-published and award-winning poet. Gillian Clarke, R.S.Thomas and Dylan Thomas are her inspirations.
Before her recent return to Wales, Sally taught Creative Writing for the University of Leicester and, with Arts Council funding, toured the UK with Hazard Warning. She is a full member of Academi and the CWA, regularly holds writing workshops both in schools, Literary festivals and writer events, especially the Annual Writers’ Conference in Winchester. She also regularly adjudicates national writing competitions and enjoys helping others achieve success.
If you would like to know more, please refer to Sally's website given below for further details and samples of her work.