Jill Dawson began publishing at the age of 22 by winning first prize in a City Limits short story competition. She went on to win an Eric Gregory Award for poetry, and published her first novel, Trick of the Light, in 1996.  She has written seven  novels, edited  six anthologies of poetry and short stories, and published one poetry pamphlet.  Fred & Edie, her third novel, was short-listed for both the Whitbread and Orange Prize, and was voted one of 50 essential novels by a living author.  Watch Me Disappear was long-listed for the Orange prize. Her work is widely translated and she  has held many fellowships, including the British Council Fellowship in Amherst, and the Creative Writing Fellowship at UEA, where she taught on the Writing MA.  In 2006 she received an honorary doctorate  from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.

Her sixth novel, The Great Lover, was selected as a Summer Read for 2009 by TV's Richard and Judy Book Club.   Lucky Bunny was a Fiction Uncovered choice.  Jill Dawson is currently director of Gold Dust, a mentoring scheme for writers.  Her eighth novel, The Tell-tale Heart, will be published by Sceptre in 2014.