SARA SHERIDAN works in a variety of historical genres. She writes a series of cosy crime noir mysteries set in the 1950s (the Mirabelle Bevan mysteries) and novels based on the real-life stories of Victorian adventurers, The Fair Botanists and The Secrets of Blythswood Square . Sara has also written two picture books for children, two TV tie-in books for historical dramas as well as creative historical non-fiction and occasional short stories.
Truth or Dare, her first novel, received a Scottish Library Award and was shortlisted for the Saltire Prize. Her novel On Starlit Seas, was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Prize 2017. The Fair Botanists won Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2022 and The Secrets of Blythswood Square was longlisted for the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year 2024. Where are the Women?, imagining a version of Scotland where women have historically been given fair recognition, featured on the First Minister’s Summer Reading List at the David Hume Institute in 2020.
An occasional journalist, Sara has reported for BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent and on ‘being a lady’ for Woman’s Hour. She also writes for a variety of newspapers and is a regular guest on specialist podcasts such as Standard Issue. Other projects inlclude two five-part radio plays for BBC Radio 4, a creative commission for the Alasdair Gray Archive and a part of thethe light installation at Edinburgh Castle for Hogmanay 2024-25.
Sara has a variety of broader industry experience: she has sat on the Committee of the Society of Authors in Scotland and on the board of writers’ collective 26 where she managed two 26 Treasures projects at the V&A Kensington and the National Museum of Scotland. The 26 Treasures book won the UK Publishing Industry’s Best Design Award 2013. She also spent a year serving as a member on the Crime Writers Association board. Sara also mentors fledgling writers for the Scottish Book Trust.
- Sara is also available for one-off sessions focusing on PR and Marketing, with more general publishing advice from an author’s perspective; contact studio@ruppinagency.com if interested.
- Areas of expertise: historical fiction and non-fiction; historical fiction cross-genre (historical crime, historical fantasy)
- Location: Glasgow
- Possible meeting places: Sara’s Glasgow office; Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, National Portrait Gallery, National Gallery of Modern Art, National Museum, Royal Scottish Academy
Sara is on Twitter, Instagram and Bluesky
