Ann Coburn is a children’s novelist who also writes for the theatre. Her fiction includes Glint (2005), a novel for older readers which won an Arts Council writer’s award and a Northern Writers’ award; Dream Team (2006− ), an ongoing series for younger readers; and a book of rewritten fairy tales (2014). Ann also leads a secret life as a children’s fiction ghost-writer. Her theatre plays include Get Up and Tie Your Fingers (1997), winner of the John Whiting award; The Devil’s Ground (2003), winner of a C.P. Taylor bursary; and, for children, Alex and the Warrior (2004) and The Last Snow Rider (2010). Her plays are published by Oberon Books.
Her theatre and prose writing are both rooted in a strong sense of place and she continues to draw on the history and mythology of north Northumberland and the Borders as a source of inspiration. The liminal space created by a transformed landscape features strongly in her work for children and young adults.
Ann has been giving talks, judging writing competitions, undertaking residencies and tutoring creative writing since her first novel was published in 1991. She works regularly with the Hexham Book Festival, running workshops for schools, chairing events and undertaking her own writing residencies. Since 2009 Ann has tutored on the creative writing MA at Newcastle University and mentored writers for the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts. Ann has a daughter and a son. She lives with her husband in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
