I write fiction, give talks about my writing, and perform my work at live events.
My latest novel, In the Blink of an Eye, was published by Linen Press in April 2018.
Writing In the Blink of an Eye
When I stumbled on the early photographic images created by Scottish artist D.O. Hill and his partner Robert Adamson and the heart-rending story they told, I felt bound to bring these people back to life, not for historians or photographers, but for readers of fiction.
In the Blink of an Eye is a multi-faceted story, using the voices of those who knew Hill and Adamson or were affected by their work. They are mostly women: an architect’s wife held captive in his fairy-tale creation; the woman who has only a calotype of her missing husband for comfort; the fisherman’s wife who feels her life change in the blink of the camera’s eye.
Read more about the book
I’ll be launching In the Blink of an Eye at events in Bristol, Suffolk and Scotland this year. Further details of these are on my events page.
More about me
I was born in Fife and graduated from St Andrews University. I worked briefly in Oxford before qualifying as an academic librarian then moved to the Bristol area where I’ve lived ever since with my husband and (now grown-up) family.
I’ve been writing full-time for more than ten years and my very first novel won a prize in the A&C Black novel competition. Since then I’ve been exploring my Scottish roots, first of all with A Kettle of Fish, a contemporary novel set in my home town of Dunfermline, and now with In the Blink of an Eye, which takes place in Victorian Fife and Edinburgh.
I also write short fiction in a variety of genres and enjoy performing my work at local live events. I’m a member of Writers Unchained of Bristol and have helped judge the highly regarded Stroud Short Stories event.
My short fiction has been listed in competitions and published in several anthologies. In 2017 I was thrilled to win the Evesham Festival of Words Adult Short Story Competition with The Bird of Wax which forms part of In the Blink of an Eye.
Thank you for visiting and don’t hesitate to contact me if there’s anything you’d like to find out or discuss.
Ali Bacon 