Helen Watts

HELEN WATTS has worked in publishing for 25 years, editing, commissioning and producing fiction, non-fiction and poetry titles on a wide range of subjects and topics, for readers of all ages, and in all kinds of forms - from magazines and books to online publications and interactive resources. She has worked for some of the biggest and best publishing houses in the UK, including Scholastic and Heinemann Educational, and has also written and produced materials for commercial, governmental and charitable organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund, The British Council and the Department for Education.For ten years, Helen was Editor of Literacy Time magazine, a subscription-based periodical which supported, and thereby enhanced, the teaching of literacy to children at primary school level. She then went on to co-found a company known as The Literacy Club, through which she published magazines, web-based resources and books including the paperback collection Taffy’s Coat Tales by world-renowned storyteller, Taffy Thomas MBE.However, after years spent shaping other people's words, Helen began to focus more on her own writing. She was commissioned to write educational titles on topics ranging from World War I, The Olympic Games and the football World Cup to cyber-bullying and teenage fashion, and was co-author on a set of three books called Make Phonics Fun (LCP), and on a comprehensive resource file series called Building Blocks (also LCP), which offered themed activities for the Early Years Foundation Stage.More recently though, Helen turned her hand to children's fiction. In early 2012, she completed the first draft of a historical fiction novel based on the true story of the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane during the Second World War - an idea which Helen had been tinkering with for almost ten-years following a visit she made to the site of the tragedy in the midst of rural France. Helen submitted the manuscript to a handful of publishers, expecting to wait some months for a reply and being fully prepared for a set of rejections. However, within just a matter of weeks, she received an offer from A&C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury, and One Day In Oradour was born. This debut novel, aimed at readers age 12 and over, has been nominated for the 2014 CILIP Carnegie Medal for an outstanding book for children and young people and has created a buzz among reviewers and librarians both in the UK and beyond.Interest in the book also sparked author talks in local secondary schools as part of the Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival and the Literally Coventry Book Festival, and Helen was so inspired by the welcome she received, that she developed a programme of talks and historical fiction workshops which is now available to schools all over the country.Helen’s second novel, No Stone Unturned, was published by A&C Black in Sept 2014, and Helen has also co-written two collections of World War I legends - one for adults and one for children - with friend and former Storytelling Laureate, Taffy Thomas. The collections, published by The History Press and A&C Black respectively, were launched to coincide with the World War I centenary celebrations.Helen is currently working on her third novel, a mystery story for teenagers set in York, which is claimed to be the most haunted city in England.When she is not writing, Helen spends her time walking her Golden Retriever, Dexter, devouring other people's novels on her Kobo, going to the cinema as often as she can and - when she is feeling energetic - playing tennis. She is married to Jon and has two teenage children - Jack (16) and Georgia (13).