Anna Vaught

Anna Vaught is the author of – soon to be – ten books, including 2020’s novel ‘Saving Lucia’ and short fiction collection, ‘Famished’. 2023 alone saw ‘Saving Lucia’ published to national acclaim in Italy as ‘Bang Bang Mussolini’, memoir ‘These Envoys of Beauty’ and the magical realism novel ‘The Zebra and Lord Jones’, her bestselling first teaching book, ‘The Alchemy’, plus the Curae anthology of short prose from the winning entrants to the prize she established in 2023 for writer-carers. 2024 sees her first essay collection, ‘To Melt the Stars’ and 2025, ‘The Elixir. A Gentle Guide to Writing Craft’, a follow-up to ‘The Alchemy’. She is currently completing a new novel, literary fiction ‘All the Days I did not Live’ and working on a commercial fiction romantic comedy.

Anna is a guest university lecturer, tutor, mentor, columnist, and occasional copywriter and editor. She was educated at the universities of Cambridge and Bristol and is currently undertaking a PhD by Published Works on Magical Realism and Trauma at York St John University, foregrounding her own work.

Anna works alongside chronic illness and is a passionate campaigner for mental health provision and SEND support for young people. She is very keen to support access to writing and publication for disabled and chronically ill writers and those who are also unpaid carers and is informed by her wide teaching background, training, and lived experience.

Specialises in: Historical fiction, contemporary, literary, book club, magical realism, women’s fiction, romance, dystopian, comic/satire, children’s (middle grade and YA), short stories, and novellas. Anna also has a keen interest in memoir and narrative non-fiction.

Anna provides tuition for our Mentoring Service.

I have been involved in teaching, tutoring and mentoring all my life and I am an avid and very wide reader. I would love to help you bring your book to life, whatever stage you are at. Let’s have this adventure together. I am encouraging, will be very excited to see your writing and will enjoy helping you build both confidence and skill as we work collaboratively.

I specialise in historical fiction, contemporary, literary, book club, women’s fiction, romance, dystopian, comic/satire, short stories, and novellas. Magical realism is my great joy, and I am currently completing a doctorate on the subject. I am also breaking into more commercial literature and would be keen to work on this with you – particularly on romantic comedy and fantasy. I am also thrilled by bold, experimental or hybrid work combining more than one form or style, so do consider working with me if this is you.

I have a keen interest in memoir, narrative non-fiction, and subject-led non-fiction. I am a campaigner for mental health provision and work to improve access for disabled and chronically ill writers and for those who are balancing writing with unpaid caring. I should love to hear from writers who feel stuck or held back and those who experience additional life challenges, something in which I have a lot of lived experience.

While we will work on all aspects of your book together, I can also help you look at how you might bring it to market, offering a wealth of information and ideas about the business end of things: we can approach this imaginatively together.