Clare Reddaway
Clare Reddaway is a Bath-based writer of short stories and plays. Her short stories have been widely published online and in anthologies, and she has won and been listed for many short story competitions, including the BBC National Short Story Awards and the Bridport Prize. Clare’s plays have been performed throughout the UK, including runs at the Edinburgh Festival and in London and Bath. She has worked for the BBC, Granada Television and various independent production companies, and has volunteered widely. Dancing in the Shallows (2024) is Clare’s debut novel.
Q: If you could travel back in time, which of the great writers would you like to meet and why?
A: I’d like to meet Angela Carter for the weirdness, Sylvia Plath for the darkness, Aphra Behn for the anecdotes, Oscar Wilde for the craic.
Q: What is the first book you remember reading or having read to you as a child?
A: My mother used to read to me all the time and I remember a big fat book of Greek myths that I loved. The gods were all so very bad and so very human.
Q: Is there a book that you keep going back to, and if so, how many times have you read it?
A: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. I have it on audio tape. I listen to it when I need cheering up. I’ve listened countless times, I can pretty much recite it, and I reference it in conversation over-frequently, usually to blank stares.
Q: What is the least interesting part of writing for you?
A: The bit between projects when I think that I’ll never have an idea again ever. Then one sneaks in and I get that kind of fizzing of potential. It’s always a huge relief.
Read Clare’s interview about Dancing in the Shallows (along with an exclusive extract of the novel) here.
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