Kelly Creighton is a novelist, crime writer, short story writer, poet, and author of the Detective Inspector Harriet Sloane series. She works as an editor, publisher, creative writing tutor and mentor. Weekly she shares writing content on her YouTube channel, such as readings, reviews, interviews and tutorials. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Creighton began her career as a visual artist. In 2014 she founded The Incubator lit journal, which features the contemporary Irish short story. Her 2015 debut novel, the psychological thriller The Bones of It, was the San Diego Book Review Book of the Year. Set after the Good Friday Agreement, the novel about masculinity was taught on a political violence degree course in the States. Creighton’s loosely linked short story collection, the Edge Hill Prize longlisted and Saboteur Award shortlisted, Bank Holiday Hurricane was released to critical acclaim in 2017. The Sleeping Season was readers’ first introduction to Detective Inspector Harriet Sloane in 2020. Problems with Girls (also 2020), was the second instalment in the Sloane series, set in East Belfast, rounding the series out as ‘distinctly feminist’. Both The Sleeping Season and Problems with Girls received rave reviews. Book 3 in the DI Sloane series will be published in October 2021. Alongside Claire Savage, Creighton is a co-editor of the multi-genre Christmas short story anthology Underneath the Tree, which showcases local genre writers. Her second short story collection Everybody’s Happy will be released in May 2021, and is available on pre-order now. It contains eight stories about art, shadows and self. Fun Poems for Kids is a booklet of poems by Kelly and her nine-year-old daughter, Martha, completed over the lockdowns, it aims to encourage children to read and write poetry. Creighton’s work has been published in over a hundred literary journals and featured in many anthologies. She has been shortlisted, or runner-up, for many poetry and short story prizes. Creighton’s work has always been supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She has presented at numerous literary festivals in the UK, Ireland and America. She lives in Co Down with her three dogs, two daughters, two sons, and one husband.

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