Award-winning Mansfield author to sign third book in hometown

Anne Goodwin, aged 60, published her first novel, partly set in a fictional mining town near Mansfield, in 2015 after taking early retirement from a 25-year career as a clinical psychologist in mental health.

Anne said: “At first glance, sitting alone at my desk making things up is very different from my previous role helping people with severe and complex mental health difficulties. Yet I’ve been surprised how much I’ve drawn on those skills in my fiction. My clinical work gave me the empathy and patience I’ve needed to go deep inside the heads of my characters, exploring the turmoil beneath the surface calm.

“Even so, switching to creative writing was like going back to reception class at school. I’d been scribbling stories ever since I could hold a pencil and I was used to writing reports and papers for work, but getting my fiction fit for publication was harder than I expected.

“When one of my stories got first prize in an international competition it gave me the encouragement I needed to keep going. And now I’ve published two novels and an entire book of short stories!”

Anne’s debut novel, Sugar and Snails, tells the story of a woman who has kept her identity secret for 30 years. The book was shortlisted for the prestigious Polari First Book Prize.

Her second novel, Underneath, is about a man who tries to resolve a relationship crisis by keeping a woman locked in a cellar. And her third book, Becoming Someone, is a collection of thought-provoking, playful and poignant short stories on the theme of identity, including her prize-winning “Tobacco and Testosterone”.

Anne relishes her second career as an author.

“I love the process of transforming ideas into stories and I love hearing back from readers about how they’ve connected with my words. I’m really looking forward to chatting with booklovers on Saturday,” she added.

Anne will be meeting readers and signing books on Saturday, June 22 at WH Smith, 1, Four Seasons, Mansfield from 10am to 1pm.