Sophie is a bestselling poet and novelist, who regularly performs her work both nationwide and abroad. Her poetry is studied at GCSE, A-level and degree level across the country. She was born in Manchester in 1971 and lives in Low Utley, West Yorkshire.
The Point of Rescue (Hodder, 2008) - the third in Sophie's series of psychological crime novels.
Pessimism for Beginners (Carcanet, 2007) New collection of poetry
The Fantastic Book of Everybody’s Secrets (Sort Of Books, 2008) A collection of nine short stories that contains 'The Octopus Nest', winner of the 2004 Daphne Du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition.
Hurting Distance (Hodder & Stoughton, 2007) Sophie's second psychological suspense novel.
Little Face (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006) - a psychological suspense novel, also due to be published in USA and Germany.
The Superpower of Love Arrow 2002 (also published in Germany as Abgeschossen, and in the US)
Cordial and Corrosive Arrow 2000 (also published in Germany as Die Freiheit Nehm Ich Mir)
Gripless (Arrow 1999 also published in Germany as Reine Nervensache)
Selected Poems (Penguin, 2006)
First of the Last Chances Carcanet Press, 2003 (chosen for the Next Generation promotion 2004)
Love Me Slender Duffy and Snellgrove (Australia), 2000
Leaving and Leaving You Carcanet Press, 1999
Hotels Like Houses (Carcanet Press, 1996 - winner of
Arts Council Writers’ Award)
The Hero and the Girl Next Door
(Carcanet Press, 1995 - winner of Eric Gregory Award 1994)
Second Helping of Your Heart Frogmore Press, 1994
Early Bird Blues Smith/Doorstop, 1993
Sophie’s poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies, including The Harvill Book of Twentieth Century Poetry in English (ed Michael Schmidt, Harvill, 1999), Scanning the Century (ed Peter Forbes, Penguin, 1999) and The Funny Side (ed Wendy Cope, Faber & Faber, 1998). She has also contributed poems to many magazines and newpapers including: The Times Literary Supplement, The Spectator, The Independent, Good Housekeeping, The Guardian, The Times Saturday Review, New Statesman & Society, The Mail on Sunday, The Observer and PN Review.
Who Will Comfort Toffle? by Tove Janson (new verse translation) Sort Of Books, 2003
The Book about Moomin, Mymble and Little My by Tove Janson (new verse translation) Sort Of Books, 2001
The Box Room (poetry) Orchard Books, 2001
Carrot the Goldfish (fiction) Hamish Hamilton, 1992
Mushroom Pakora (broadcast on Radio Four, 2006)
Always Swing Upright (in Ideas Above Our Station, Route 2006)
I Deeply and Completely Love Myself (in Bitch Lit, Crocus 2006)
An Absolute Offence (in Leeds Stories 2, Comma Press 2004)
Gunpowder and Vanilla (in Hyphen: Stories by Poets, Comma Press 2003)
The Understudy (broadcast on Radio Four, 2003)
Everybody’s Different (broadcast on Radio Four, 2002)
Pyjama Dance (in More Stories for Five Year Olds, Harper Collins 1994)
Creative Writing Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University
(1998 - 2005)
Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford (1999 - 2001)
Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts, Trinity College, Cambridge
(1997 to 1999)
Writer-in-Residence at the Portico Library, Manchester (June
1994 - June 1997)
Regular contributor to Woman’s Hour (Radio Four). Regular television reviewer for Front Row (Radio Four) and The Simon Mayo Show (Radio Five). She has also been a critic for BBC2’s Newsnight Review, and has appeared on/written for numerous other programmes, including Stanza, Poetry Please, The Mark Radcliffe Show, You and Yours, A Good Read, Booked, Open Book.
Weekly performances for over ten years, including: the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the Ilkley Literature Festival, the Ledbury Poetry Festival, the Bath Festival, the Bristol Festival, the Guildford Festival, Birmingham Readers and Writers Festival, the Canterbury Festival, the Dartington Ways With Words Festival, the British Council Brussels Seminar and the Dublin Festival.
Numerous workshops in venues including schools, colleges, universities, libraries and prisons. Sophie has been a tutor for Skyros Writers’ Lab, on the Greek island of Skyros, and has tutored several courses for the Arvon foundation. She has also worked extensively for the British Council on numerous writers’ tours, including Belize, Greece and Stockholm, and she represented England at the 2005 International World Peace Poetry Festival in Seoul, South Korea.
Sophie is currently a judge for the The Society of Authors’ Eric Gregory Awards.
She has written one play, ‘F’, which was performed at the Wilde Theatre at South Hill Park, Bracknell from 28 - 31 August 1997
‘This may well turn out to be the detective novel of the year. A terrifying mystery of manipulation, counter-manipulation and, finally, astounding revelation. It’s a haunting story told with bewitching skill.’- Gerald Kaufman, The Scotsman
‘Quite brilliant…I was extremely impressed.’ Alyson Rudd, Times
‘A chilling thriller….I was left thinking about the book for days, and that’s usually a good sign’ – Matthew Lewin, Guardian
‘Hannah shows herself a clued-up observer of the pathological dynamics of desire.’ Independent
‘Women in peril flit through the pages of traditional Gothic fiction, murmuring 'Had I but known!' as they fall for the wrong man, open the wrong door or apply for the wrong job. The poet Sophie Hannah takes the trusty formula in both hands, gives it a vigorous shake and uses it to produce something fascinating and original...Beautifully written, the novel is outstandingly chilling…a textbook example of how to write effective psychological horror by creating a climate of fear. The violence is largely symbolic or self-inflicted by the victim, and terror lurks in the half-understood and in anticipation….A hugely promising debut. Sophie Hannah is an author to watch.’ - Andrew Taylor, Spectator
‘Hannah adapts to crime fiction with arresting aplomb: her characters are vivid, the novel’s challenging double narrative is handled with flair, and its denoument is ingenious.’ - John Dugdale, Sunday Times
‘The author brings a wealth of psychological and literary subtlety to bear in this impressive novel…Smart and disarmingly unnerving.’ Daily Mail
‘Excellent psychological thriller…Highly engaging’ – Tangled Web
‘I could barely put it down’ – Birmingham Post
‘Superb…good, old-fashioned spine-tingling stuff, but also a fine modern thriller….One of those “I must find out what happened” books.’ - The Times
'Intriguing…Hannah's depiction of relationships tested to the limit by domestic tragedy is impressive.' Mail on Sunday
‘A roller coaster of a read and a real pageturner. Find a couple of days when you don't need to be anywhere. Disconnect the doorbell and turn off the phone. I can guarantee you will not want to be disturbed while reading this. Intriguing, thrilling and worrying: where is Florence? What happened to Alice and Little Face? are just two of the questions you will find yourself asking. Along with the age-old is it nature or nurture that makes people into what they are? Sophie Hannah keeps us guessing till the end and then hits us between the eyes with a thrilling climax. Not to be missed.’ NewBooks Magazine
‘Hannah wrings a taut chiller-thriller out of the secrets and lies undermining an apparently perfect family.’ – Saga Magazine
‘Sophie Hannah has written a riveting thriller that will keep you turning the pages in one sitting. Her observations about what lies beneath the surface of other people’s lives are intelligently made and beautifully written.’ – Irish Independent
‘The language and atmosphere are high-quality stuff, and the portrait of a woman in the throes of post-natal depression will be a revelation for some, for others a reminder.’ – Literary Review
‘Left me breathless: so cleverly plotted, so deeply felt. People talk about “the Wow! Factor” and this book has got it….I haven’t read a book for a long time that kept me in such suspense…The writing is poised and elegant – in fact, if it weren’t for the compulsive plot this could be a literary novel….An excellent and indulgent read.’ Times Books Group
‘Superbly crafted…Hannah’s suspenseful tale will keep you gripped until the truth is revealed.’ Lincolnshire Echo
‘I defy any reader to guess the truth before Hannah is ready to reveal it’ Shotsmag
‘This taut psychological thriller is full of heart-thumping suspense’ - Sainsbury’s Magazine
‘A gripping thriller’ Daily Express
‘The phrase "psychological thriller" could have been invented for this gripping novel…Hannah ratchets up the tension like a tourniquet…Little Face is not simply a crime novel. It is a thorough and deep exploration of the dynamics of an on-the-surface happy family, revealing the seething secrets beneath….An accomplished thriller that will appeal to anyone who enjoys a rattling good read but will send especially shiversome chills down the spine of any parent.’ - Bradford Telegraph and Argus
‘Sophie Hannah can now add “accomplished thriller writer” to her list of achievements….She works her way, at a heart-thumping pace, towards a delicious ending.’ – South China Morning Post
‘Profoundly disturbing, but all too frighteningly possible. One of the best books I have read in a long time. Truly gripping.’ – Mystery Women
‘A terrific debut’ – The New Zealand Herald
‘Impossible to put down’ – NewBooks Mag
‘A suspenseful psychological thriller; the plot twists and turns right up until the very last pages’ – Heat
‘Fascinating and intelligent…A gripping crime story of the first order, loaded with subtext and meaning.’ – Leeds Guide
‘A riveting read’ – The London Paper
‘A great premise is handled deftly by Hannah, and she cranks up the tension little by little so that your teeth are grinding with it by the end of the book.’ – The Book Bar
‘‘Sophie Hannah has a real flair for the necessary: the completed dramatic action, the single controlling idea, the succinct and telling dialogue, the essential humour, the irony, the narrative imperative, the detachment.’ (Liz Lochhead, PN Review)
‘Sophie Hannah’s comic fiction produces reams of entertaining moral sophistry. Her novels sparkle.’ (Judith Palmer in the Independent)
‘Hannah has a keen ear for her characters’ foibles, snobberies and hypocrisies, and the observation remains acute throughout.’ (Observer)
‘Hannah’s comic gift for unraveling the relationship maze makes the complexities of domestic life interesting again.’ (Independent)
‘Sophie Hannah’s writing is sharp, and her observations about the strength, illogicality and frequent madness of love and its effects on real life are by turns both wittily and acerbically true.’ (Books and Company)
‘Sophie Hannah’s novels define originality...Funny, gripping and unputdownable! She has put “You must read this” back into books and we love her for it.’ (B magazine)
‘An engaging romantic comedy... Some sharp satirical asides give the humour an edge and precision [her] rivals often lack.’ (Times)
‘Sophie Hannah is already among the best at comprehending in rhyming verse the indignity of having a body and the nobility of having a heart.’ (Jeremy Noel Tod, The Guardian)
‘She ranks among the best recent practitioners of light verse, sharing with Ewart fluency and a good ear, emulating Wendy Cope in her sly wit and blending an eye for the absurdities in human behaviour with compassion.’ (Alan Brownjohn, Sunday Times)
‘Beautiful examples of an easy speaking voice moving gracefully within strict metrical forms without a hint of strain.’ (Vernon Scannell, Daily Telegraph)
‘Her witty poems about seemingly everyday subjects are distinguished by acute observation and an expert use of metre and rhyme.’ (Frank Egerton, The Times)
‘Sophie Hannah is a poet of considerable skill. She employs a wide variety of rhyming forms, and you can trust her not to trip you up with a metrical infelicity. A shrewd and accurate observer of the world around her, and of her own life, she is often very funny. This collection, her fourth, is arguably her best so far. (Wendy Cope, ‘Books of the Year’, The Oldie)
‘Sophie Hannah is a real star.’ (P J Kavanagh in the Daily Telegraph)
‘Shall I put it in capitals? SOPHIE HANNAH IS A GENIUS.’ (Poetry Review)
‘Those who care for poetry should besiege the publisher for Sophie Hannah’s first book.’ (Spectator)
‘The brightest young star in British poetry’ (Judith Palmer in the Independent)
‘A wonderful poet’ (Kate Kellaway in The Observer)
‘A poet of subtlety and sophistication’ (Rachel Simhon in the Daily Telegraph)
‘A poet of sassy urban heartache, deftness, humour and considerable ingenuity...A book that manages to be both simple and imaginatively probing - a rare achievement’ (Michael Glover, Independent)
‘A jewel of inventive cleverness. Hannah’s command of forms is unarguable, her glance is oblique, her grasp of situations unusual. Leaving and Leaving You will delight her audience.’ (Kathleen Jamie in Mslexia)
‘I love Hannah’s poetry. Her rhyming is as convoluted and densely patterned as her subjects are intractable. Hannah answers the tangled miseries of everyday life with complex internal argument and layering of sounds, and moves through minefields of emotion with instinctive grace.’ (Times Education Supplement)
‘The title poem, Leaving and Leaving You, had me in tears. Her range
is astonishing: most readers will come away having been changed or delighted.’
(Tom Payne, ‘Books of the Year’, Daily Telegraph)