About me
I was born in Inverness and grew up in Dingwall by the Cromarty Firth. I have a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Glasgow and an MA in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths College, London.
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Over the years I have worked as a supermarket store detective, a call-centre knowledge engineer, a business analyst in the banking sector and as the development manager for an award-winning online learning company. I write poetry and fiction for both adults and children, and I'm the author of one pamphlet and two collections of poetry published by Templar Poetry and Salt Publishing and one self-published science-fiction novel, Sequela, which was awarded a Kirkus star and was named to the Kirkus Best Books of 2013. My third full collection of poetry Real Cute Danger was published by Broken Sleep Books in December 2022.
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As well as writing, I run poetry workshops and work as an audiobook narrator. I currently live in Surrey with my husband, my two sons and our cats, Maisie and Charlie.
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You can find out more facts about me, some more useful than others, by kicking back and gazing at the cloudy scene below, or look right for information on my current poetry and fiction projects.
My first big confidence boost in poetry was winning a prize for "best love poem" in a school magazine competition run by the Post Office and The Scotsman.
Current projects
Poetry
My latest poetry collection, Real Cute Danger, was released by Broken Sleep Books on Hogmanay 2022 - appropriate for a book about birth to arrive along with the new year. I'm really excited about this collection and am so thankful for Aaron Kent at Broken Sleep for taking it on and doing such an amazing job with everything from his excellent, insightful edit to the wonderful cover design.
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As well as promoting Real Cute Danger, I've been continuing to write and teach poetry this year. It's not clear yet if there will be any unifying theme to my next collection of poems, but it'll certainly have its fair share of the usual weirdness!
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Fiction
I have a number of fiction projects seeking good homes. If you're an editor or publisher and would like to know more about any of the projects below, please contact my agent John Jarrold at www.johnjarrold.co.uk:
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Black Doe
Two women, one mother and one killer, face separate journeys fraught with difficulty and plagued by magic. They will need to face down faeries, kelpies, blood magic and the dark heart of thwarted ambition to get what they need, but can each find the strength to reconcile what they need with what they want?
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Black Doe is a bloody tale of motherhood, responsibility and loss of self, steeped in folklore and tragedy, and set against the backdrop of the 2nd Century AD Scottish Highlands. It will appeal to readers who enjoy threads of fantasy and folklore woven through their historical fiction and those looking for complex female protagonists written by women. It will be enjoyed by fans of books like Sister Song by Lucy Holland and Circe by Madeleine Miller.
Solis
The Overseer's sister died a natural death. Hé couldn’t prevent it and hé can’t avenge it. With her death, he has become hé again, a multi for the first time since hé was a child. Now hé carries ha sister’s voice with ha own, every word a polyphonic reminder of her death.
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When the Chief Law Maker is found dead, it falls to the Overseer to solve the murder before the upcoming vote on engineers’ rights is compromised. But what connects the illegal springwork frog, the coded diagram and the elusive visitor from out of town? Hé can only hope the gods in solis are watching ha light from the lake beneath.
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"With a murder at its centre and the gender fluidity of both The Left Hand of Darkness and N K Jemisin's Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Angela Cleland has crafted a remarkable novel, an equally remarkable setting and a fascinating array of characters." - John Jarrold
Burdock and Rue
Rue is no ordinary cat - she’s a witch’s familiar. And today is no ordinary day. When Rue comes home to find a mysterious sack in her kitchen, her peaceful life in the woods is turned upside down. In the sack is a crow named Burdock, who claims to be another familiar and, what’s worse, both of their witches have been kidnapped.
When the kidnappers return unexpectedly, Burdock and Rue are thrown headlong into an adventure that neither of them were looking for, in company that neither of them would have chosen. Armed only with Burdock’s wings and Rue’s ability to transform into a little girl in a hideous yellow party dress, they set out to rescue their witches.
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Burdock and Rue have no idea of the dangers they will face along the way: a mysterious tunnel, the creepy guy from the Thumbuddies advert, the lady with the candy-floss hair, and some very unpleasant smells are all tangled up in a sinister plot with their witches at its centre. Can they rescue their witches before it’s too late?
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Burdock and Rue is a funny, magical, action adventure middle-grade trilogy about making friends, learning to trust and the power of working together. I am currently finishing the final book in the trilogy.