© 2007 Susanna Kearsley

Made by Serif

Read My Diary...

I’m actually a little busier this autumn than I thought I’d be! For details,

I had the good fortune to be born into a family of readers.  My mother was reading Mary Stewart’s This Rough Magic when I was born, so it was perhaps no surprise that Mrs Stewart became my own favourite author.  I can’t remember when I began to put words on paper myself, but at seven - after reading Little Women and deciding that I wanted to be just like Jo - I started writing first chapters, and wrote continually through my teenage years.  After studying politics and international development at university, I sidestepped into museum work and at the age of twenty-two became a curator.  In that same year, my sister dared me to stop writing first chapters and produce a book.  I’d never been able to resist a dare!  By the end of that summer I’d finished my first novel, and I was hooked.  My ‘hobby’ had become a vocation.

I left the museum to waitress and write.  Working mostly late at night, I wrote my second novel, Mariana, and submitted it to Transworld Publishers’ Catherine Cookson Fiction Prize competition.  Four days before Christmas, I learned that I’d won.  The very best of Christmas presents, and one that truly changed my life - not only the £10,000 prize, but major international publication of a book that continues to find its own life.  And thirteen years later, I’m still feeling fortunate, doing the thing I love best...telling stories.