Jill Dawson has been described as one of Britain’s most talented contemporary writers. Dawson has won an Eric Gregory award for poetry and published her first novel, Trick of the Light, in 1996. She is the author of six novels and the editor of six anthologies of poetry and short stories. Fred & Edie, Dawson’s third novel, was shortlisted for both the Whitbread and Orange Prizes, and was voted one of fifty essential novels by a living author. She has held many fellowships including the British Council Fellowship in Amherst and the Creative Writing fellowship at University of East Anglia where she taught on the writing MA. In 2006 she received an honorary doctorate in recognition of her writing and her works with new writers.  Her most recent bestselling novel, The Great Lover, is about the life of Rupert Brooke and was selected as a 2009 Summer Read by television’s Richard and Judy Book Club. Currently, Dawson is a director of Gold Dust, a mentoring scheme for writers. Dawson lives with her family in the Cambridgeshire Fens.