Anna Vaught

Dr Anna Vaught is the author of 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 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 saw her first essay collection, To Melt the Stars and 2025 offers The Elixir. A Gentle Guide to Writing Craft, a follow-up to The Alchemy. She is currently completing a novella and a literary self-help series as well as beginning a commercial fiction book under the name of Catherine Llewelyn. Anna’s shorter work is widely published in anthologies, literary journals, and in the national press, and she has been a columnist for The Bookseller and Mslexia.

Anna is a secondary English teacher, Creative Writing teacher and mentor, occasional university lecturer, proofreader, copywriter and editor. She was educated at the universities of Cambridge and Bristol and was recently awarded a PhD by Published Works at York St John University; her topic was Magical Realism and Trauma, 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 unpaid carers and disabled and chronically ill writers, and is informed by her wide teaching background, training, and lived experience.

Specialises in: Magical realism, historical fiction, contemporary, literary, book club, 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.