The long and the short of Claire Allan
Claire Allan was born on the longest day of the year in the hottest summer on record - the glorious drought ridden 1976.
She was born into the very lovely Davidson family in the city of Derry~ Londonderry in the North of Ireland.
She has two sisters - Lisa and Emma - and one brother, Peter.
She attended Rosemount Primary School and Thornhill College before taking the very brave move up the road to Belfast to study at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown for her undergraduate degree in Humanities. before moving to the Belfast Campus of the University of Ulster to study for her Masters Degree in Newspaper Journalism.
She wrote her undergraduate dissertation on the ethics of genetic screening and her Masters’ thesis on the portrayal of women in the UK media.
In 1999 she started working as a staff reporter for the Derry Journal - covering an array of news from politics to human interest stories..
The highlights of her career with the included being part of the award winning team that covered the Saville Inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday, being appointed the paper’s first female columnist in 2002 and covering Derry's year as the first UK City of Culture.
As Claire approached her 30th birthday she decided to give writing books a shot. Basing her first novel ‘Rainy Days and Tuesdays’ very loosely on her own experiences with Post Natal Depression following the birth of her son Joseph in 2004 she wrote a book never knowing if anyone would read it.
Thankfully someone did. First of all the lovely Ger Nichol of The Book Bureau read it and agreed to act as Claire’s agent and then the even lovelier people of Poolbeg Press read it and agreed to publish it.
Rainy Days and Tuesday was published in 2007 and was an instant bestseller.
It has been followed by Feels Like Maybe, Jumping in Puddles, It's Got to Be Perfect, If Only You Knew, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, The First Time I Said Goodbye and Still You.
She still lives in Derry and in 2016 took the leap to become a full time writer, leaving behind her journalism career. She also decided to branch out to write psychological thrillers.
In 2017, she signed a two book deal with Avon Books, an imprint of Harper Collins. Her debut thriller, Her Name Was Rose is to be released in June 2018, followed by Apple of My Eye in January 2019.
Claire is married and has two children - the teen and the Wee Doll - and two cats, Alfie and Kitty Purry, and a puppy called Izzy.
She was born into the very lovely Davidson family in the city of Derry~ Londonderry in the North of Ireland.
She has two sisters - Lisa and Emma - and one brother, Peter.
She attended Rosemount Primary School and Thornhill College before taking the very brave move up the road to Belfast to study at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown for her undergraduate degree in Humanities. before moving to the Belfast Campus of the University of Ulster to study for her Masters Degree in Newspaper Journalism.
She wrote her undergraduate dissertation on the ethics of genetic screening and her Masters’ thesis on the portrayal of women in the UK media.
In 1999 she started working as a staff reporter for the Derry Journal - covering an array of news from politics to human interest stories..
The highlights of her career with the included being part of the award winning team that covered the Saville Inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday, being appointed the paper’s first female columnist in 2002 and covering Derry's year as the first UK City of Culture.
As Claire approached her 30th birthday she decided to give writing books a shot. Basing her first novel ‘Rainy Days and Tuesdays’ very loosely on her own experiences with Post Natal Depression following the birth of her son Joseph in 2004 she wrote a book never knowing if anyone would read it.
Thankfully someone did. First of all the lovely Ger Nichol of The Book Bureau read it and agreed to act as Claire’s agent and then the even lovelier people of Poolbeg Press read it and agreed to publish it.
Rainy Days and Tuesday was published in 2007 and was an instant bestseller.
It has been followed by Feels Like Maybe, Jumping in Puddles, It's Got to Be Perfect, If Only You Knew, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, The First Time I Said Goodbye and Still You.
She still lives in Derry and in 2016 took the leap to become a full time writer, leaving behind her journalism career. She also decided to branch out to write psychological thrillers.
In 2017, she signed a two book deal with Avon Books, an imprint of Harper Collins. Her debut thriller, Her Name Was Rose is to be released in June 2018, followed by Apple of My Eye in January 2019.
Claire is married and has two children - the teen and the Wee Doll - and two cats, Alfie and Kitty Purry, and a puppy called Izzy.
Contact:
Email: claire.allan@gmail.com
Twitter: @claireallan
Facebook: www.facebook.com/claireallanauthor
Instagram: claireallan_author
Represented by Ger Nichol of The Book Bureau
Twitter: @claireallan
Facebook: www.facebook.com/claireallanauthor
Instagram: claireallan_author
Represented by Ger Nichol of The Book Bureau