Rebecca J Smith
Writer
Rebecca was born in Richmond, North Yorkshire, UK, in 1971. She spent her formative years in Ravensworth, a small village that boasts a castle ruin and a large manor house inhabited by a rather famous cricketer.
Ravensworth seemed like an untouchable, idyllic paradise but it was Richmond library where Rebecca felt happiest; there, stories of The Chalet School and Malory Towers promised a dream life of hot chocolate on winter’s days, friendships with pigtailed girls, and fun with benevolent teachers. From these children’s classics, Rebecca soon progressed to those most famous of Yorkshire lasses – the Brontës (naturally), the weird and wonderful world of Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected, and (found on her brother’s bedroom floor) A Clockwork Orange. This early love of the written word has never left Rebecca.
An eleven-year-old Rebecca attended Richmond School, North Yorkshire, leaving seven years later with O-Levels, A-Levels and an excitement for literature, which she went on to study at university in Liverpool.
Richmond School, circa 1980
Since studying undergraduate English Literature, she has studied for a Master’s degree in Renaissance and Eighteenth Century Literature at the University of Liverpool, and is currently studying on the Master’s programme for Writing at Liverpool John Moores University.
Rebecca is inspired by the Yorkshire landscape - the gothic feel of the moors, and the unforgiving northern weather, being key elements of her work. Her writing has been described as sensuous, gothic, lyrical and unexpected – magic realism fusing with stories of the bleak Yorkshire landscape.
North Yorkshire Moors 2017
In parts historical, and often romantic, yet gothic in expression, stories transport us to the boundaries between the real and the imagined; endings are strong but often hit readers with an unexpected twist.
Rebecca’s literary influences are the Brontës, Sarah Dunant, Jeanette Winterson, Angela Carter, Carol Ann Duffy and Helen Dunmore. She also enjoys Greek mythology and Celtic fairy tales.
Haworth sheep
Rebecca married Mark Smith in 2008. They have one daughter, and currently live on the Wirral with their two cats, Angel and Jasper.
Rebecca is currently a teacher of English at a girls’ grammar school in the north of England. She writes in her spare time.