Ann Cleeves Biography

Ann grew up in Herefordshire, Endland, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.

While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents; there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was restricted to low tide. If you are not fascinated by birds - and Ann isn't - there isn't much to do on Hilbre, and that was when she started writing.

Ann became a multi-million copy bestselling author, and was behind two hit television series―the BBC's Shetland, and ITV's Vera - both of which are also watched and loved in the USA.

Ann was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Sunderland on Tuesday, July 8th, 2014, in recognition of her outstanding achievements as a crime writer.

On 26 October 2017, Ann Cleeves was presented with the Diamond Dagger of the Crime Writers' Association, the highest honour in British crime writing, at the CWA's Dagger Awards ceremony in London.

In December 2018, she was awarded an honorary award of Doctor of Letters (Hon DLitt) from Robert Gordon University (RGU) in recognition of her contribution to the world of literature and crime writing.

Ann Cleeves's website

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