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Team Bookends’ list of Inspirational Female Authors

2015 has been a fantastic for celebrating being a woman – from 100 years of the WI to the release of the first film ever to document the struggle of the Suffragettes, we’re feeling inspired by and in awe of the many incredible females out there! So to celebrate woman-kind, we’ve compiled a list of seven Bookends authors who’ve had to over-come their own obstacles in order to achieve their dreams…

Katie Piper, author of Things Get BetterBeautiful Ever After and Start Your Day with Katie

Katie Piper is a best-selling international author, inspirational speaker, TV presenter and charity campaigner. She is also a young woman who has rebuilt her life after surviving a brutal attack in March 2008 at the age of 24, in which she was raped and had sulphuric acid thrown in her face. She spent two months in the Burns Unit at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where she was placed in an induced coma in intensive care.

Just over a year after the attack, Katie made the decision to give up her anonymity and share her story in a remarkable film for the Cutting Edge strand on Channel 4 called ‘Katie: My Beautiful Face’. Which was watched by over 3.5million viewers and nominated for Best Single Documentary at the BAFTA Television Awards in 2010. In 2009 she went on to set up her own charity The Katie Piper Foundation. Simon Cowell supported Katie in her mission by becoming the patron and remains actively involved to date. The charity’s vision is a world where scars do not limit a person’s function, social inclusion or sense of well-being.

Katie has gone on to write three bestselling books, host her own successful TV series on Channel 4 and has just had her first child – ‘busy’ doesn’t even cut it!


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Emma Hannigan, author of Heart of Winter and Secrets We Share 

In 2005, Emma was told that she was the carrier of the Br Ca 1 gene, meaning she was at an 85% risk of contracting breast cancer and at a 50% risk of getting ovarian cancer. As a preventative measure she had a bi-lateral mastectomy and a bi-lateral oophorectomy, but, sadly in 2007, Emma was diagnosed with cancer for the first time. This marked the start of an on-going battle with the disease, and Emma is currently receiving treatment for the 10th time. Where most people would rail at the world for the cruel hand she has been dealt, Emma continues to exude positivity, using her time in recovery to become an Ambassador for Breast Cancer Ireland, be a wife and mother and discover a passion for writing, which has seen her write nine novels, 1 short story collection and a memoir. Meet Emma Hannigan – Cancer Vixen!

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Lynda Bellingham, author of There’s Something I’ve Been Dying to Tell You

The amazing Lynda Bellingham wrote her inspirational memoir THERE’S SOMETHING I’VE BEEN DYING TO TELL YOU during the final months of her life. Determined that the book – talking about the ‘least sexy’ cancer of them all in an open and honest way – would be her final legacy, Lynda continued her promotional work for it right into her last days, passing away just a week after publication.

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Tracy Rees, author of Amy Snow 

Before her debut novel AMY SNOW was topping the bestseller lists, Tracy Rees’ path to becoming a novelist didn’t run smoothly. She had reached a difficult point in her life, from relationships to finances, jobs to home life, and she had given up her job completely to pursue her dream of becoming an author. Her risk and dedication finally paid off in 2014 when she won Richard and Judy’s search for a bestseller competition, and her first novel AMY SNOW received overwhelming praise. Watch out for Tracy as her next novel, FLORENCE GRACE is being published next summer – there’s certainly no stopping her now!

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Dreda Say Mitchell, author of Death Trap 

Dreda Say Mitchell’s first book was awarded The CWA’s Dagger for best debut crime novel – the first time a black British writer has received this honour. She is the founder of the creative writing programme ‘Write-On’, which she has run in both YOIs and prison, and is a patron of The National Youth Arts Trust. Her commitment to raising the life chances of working-class children in education has been called inspirational and life changing.

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Andrea Levy, author of Small Island and Six Stories and an Essay 

Andrea grew up in 1960s London, the child of Jamaican parents, in a population far less diverse and accepting than the city is known for today. She began writing in her 30s, and her first few novels reflected her own experiences of struggling with identity and belonging as a black child in England. Her fourth novel SMALL ISLAND, won the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Orange Best of the Best, the Whitbread Novel Award, the Whitbread Book of the Year award and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize – just recognition of a writer who addressed themes and the black British experience of Britain well before many of her contemporaries. Her most recent novel THE LONG SONG was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.


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Helena Coggan, author of The Catalyst 

Helena Coggan wrote her debut fantasy novel THE CATALYST at the age of 13 and had it published at 15. Not many authors get called ‘The next JK Rowling’ (The Today Programme) before they even take their GCSEs – but Helena is one exceptional teenager!Helena Coggan author photo

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