Anna Reynolds
Playwright, Novelist
About
Anna Reynolds is a playwright, fiction writer, drama writing coach, editor, mentor, writing facilitator and arts project producer.
She has written over 20 plays including the award-winning Jordan, Red, Skin Hunger and Wild Things. Her work has been seen at Watford Palace (SoulPlay, Ring Road Tales), West Yorkshire Playhouse (Precious), Colchester Mercury (Blue Sky State), The Pleasance, Edinburgh (Stand By Your Van) and many other venues. She has written for opera, dance, theatre, screen, circus, short-story anthologies and numerous newspapers and magazines. She has won awards from Time Out magazine, the Writers’ Guild, and others. Her opera Push! (Tête-à-Tête, 2006) was described by the Guardian as ‘brilliant, celebratory, painful, tremendous’. She won the Yeovil prize for short fiction with her story ‘The Bleeding Heart’ in 2007. Her most recent play, Nothing on Earth, toured nationally, with Pursued By A Bear Theatre (Arts Council of England).
In 2021- 2023, Anna wrote a series of 6 short films to accompany the play Nothing On Earth which were screened in town centres, cinemas and online. The playscript for Nothing on Earth will be published in autumn 2023 by Aurora Metro Books. Anna is currently working on a novel related to and inspired by Nothing On Earth.
Anna has also fundraised, created, produced and managed arts projects funded by Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund include Spit & Polish, Odeon Journey and Herts Hidden Heroines. She specialises in working with people with learning disabilities, with lived experience of mental health issues, neurodivergence, young people and many groups in challenging settings including prisons, daycare centres, CAMHS units and Pupil Referral Units. She has been a Royal Literary Fund Fellow since 2005, undertaking a variety of fellowships in universities (London College of Fashion, University of Warwick, University of Westminster), in the community and healthcare settings, (Royal College of Nursing, USDAW and other unions), running Reading Rounds and expressive writing among many other skills, workshops and courses.
Anna is currently a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at University College London Hospital Trust and an editor/mentor for Cornerstones Literary Consultancy. She is also a freelance editor, dramaturg and writing mentor/coach/tutor.