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Helen Cross (author)

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Helen Cross
Born1967 (age 57–58)
Newbald, East Yorkshire, England
Education
Notable workMy Summer of Love
AwardsBetty Trask Award (2002)
Websitewww.helencross.net

Helen Cross (born 1967, Newbald) is an English writer best known for her 2001 book My Summer of Love.[1] In addition to novels, Cross also writes audio dramas, primarily for BBC Radio 4, and teaches creative writing and podcasting at Leeds Beckett University and the Arvon Foundation.[2][3] Her 2012 Blue Eyed Boy, an audio play about her father's childhood, was a finalist for the Innovation Award at the 2012 BBC Audio Drama Awards.[4][5]

Biography

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Helen Cross was born and raised in Newbald, East Yorkshire, England.[6][1][4] Her father was born Lawrence Duncombe and was evacuated to Willerby during The Blitz. He was adopted by a childless family and was separated from his birth family until adulthood. Cross used this as the basis of her 2012 radio drama Blue Eyed Boy, which was styled as a documentary on BBC Radio 4.[5][7] It was short-listed an Innovation Award at the 2012 BBC Audio Drama Awards.[4] Cross received a BA in English and drama from Goldsmiths, University of London, followed by an MA in creative writing from University of East Anglia in 1997.[4][6][8] After finishing her graduate degree, she worked for several years at Royal Shakespeare Theatre as a writer.[6] In 1998, she was director of the Birmingham Readers and Writers festival.[9][10]

Cross's first novel, My Summer of Love, was published in 2001 and won a Betty Trask Award in 2002.[6][4][11] It follows two teenage Yorkshire girls from different social classes in the 1980s and the toxic love that evolves between them.[6][12] The film adaptation was released in 2004. It was directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and starred Emily Blunt and Natalie Press.[4][6][13] It won several awards, including the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2005 BAFTAs, beating out Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Shaun of the Dead for the prize.[14][3] Her next novel, The Secrets She Keeps, was published in 2005.[4][6] This book centered on John, a 19-year-old nanny, and his infatuation with his employer's wealthy world.[15][16] It was partially inspired by Cross' time as an 18-year-old nanny in Manhattan.[6][16] In 2009, she published her third novel, Spilt Milk, Black Coffee, an interracial romance about a 26-year-old Muslim man and his older white coworker.[4][17] It was adapted to film and directed by Nat Luurtsema. The Clean Up was shortlisted for Film London Microwave in 2016.[18][19][4]

Cross has written short stories for anthologies, including "The Uniform" in Her Majesty: 21 Stories by Women (2003)[20] and "Fur" in Wolf-Girls: Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lycogyny (2012).[21] In 2014, she wrote a short film, Deeds Not Words, about suffragettes in Birmingham.[22] She also teaches classes in creative writing and podcasting, including for the Arvon Foundation and Leeds Beckett University.[2][4][6] In 2004, she was an Arts Council International Fellow at Banff Centre in Canada and in 2007 was writer-in-residence at the University of Mumbai.[23][3][6] On 20 December 2024, she played on the Goldsmiths team on the 2020 University Challenge Christmas special alongside David Dibosa, Dave Myers and Rachel Cowgill.[24]

Personal life

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Cross lives in Birmingham[25] with her partner Andy. She has two daughters.[citation needed]

Works

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Novels
  • My Summer of Love. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2001. ISBN 0-7475-5276-2.
  • The Secrets She Keeps. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2006. ISBN 0-7475-7891-5.
  • Spilt Milk, Black Coffee. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2010. ISBN 1-4088-1215-0.
Radio dramas
  • One Day - BBC Radio 4. Premiered 30 December 2003.[26]
  • Tolkien in Love - BBC Radio 4. Premiered 2012.[27]
  • Blue Eyed Boy - BBC Radio 4. Premiered 2012.[5][4]
  • BBC Afternoon Play: The Return of Rowena the Wonderful - BBC Radio 4. Premiered September 2013.[25][28][4]
  • The Essay: Coming Home - BBC Radio 4. Premiered 2022.[25]
  • English Rose - BBC Radio 4. Premiered 1 December 2023.[25][29][3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Helen Cross". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Masterclass: Audio drama". Arvon. 2025. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "Helen Cross". Arvon Foundation. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Helen Cross". Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  5. ^ a b c "Blue Eyed Boy". BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Interview: Helen Cross". Interviewed by Kaushal, Tara. Tara Kaushal. April 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  7. ^ Cross, Helen. "Blue Eyed Boy – Telling my father's story for radio". BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  8. ^ "UEA prizewinners and nominees 1970-2021". New Writing. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  9. ^ "New festival director". Birmingham Evening Mail. Birmingham, West Midlands, England. 9 February 1998. p. 18. Retrieved 29 April 2025 – via newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "A reception was held at Birmingham Repertory Theatre..." The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, West Midlands, England. 5 August 1998. p. 60. Retrieved 29 April 2025 – via newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Betty Trask Prize: Past winners". Society of Authors. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  12. ^ "My Summer of Love". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  13. ^ Scott, A.O. (17 June 2005). "United by a Sisterly Bond, Friends Explore Teenage Love". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  14. ^ "Film in 2005". awards.bafta.org. BAFTA Awards. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  15. ^ Seymenliyska, Elena (18 March 2005). "Bleak beauty". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  16. ^ a b Roberts, Annie. "Top Secrets: Helen Cross". icSolihullurl-status=dead. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011.
  17. ^ Birch, Carol (18 June 2009). "Spilt Milk, Black Coffee, By Helen Cross; Heartland, By Anthony Cartwright". The Independent. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  18. ^ Parfitt, Orlando (28 November 2016). "Microwave 2016/2017 shortlist announced". Screen Daily. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  19. ^ "Introducing - Ouzo and Blackcurrant". Mini Productions. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  20. ^ Gay, Jackie; Hargrave, Emma, eds. (2002). "The Uniform". Her Majesty: 21 Stories by Women. Tindal Street Press. pp. 138–148.
  21. ^ Kate, Hannah, ed. (2012). "Fur". Wolf-Girls: Dark Tales of Teeth, Claws and Lycogyny. Manchester: Hic Dragones. pp. 219–226.
  22. ^ "'Deeds not Words' - Forgotten Birmingham Suffragettes and Suffragists". History West Midlands. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  23. ^ "Helen Cross". Pulp.net. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  24. ^ Buck, Louisa (24 December 2020). "Fingers on buzzers.... Courtauld takes on Goldsmiths in arty University Challenge". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  25. ^ a b c d "The Essay: Coming Home, Helen Cross". BBC Sounds. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  26. ^ "One Day". Learning on Screen. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  27. ^ "Tolkien in Love". The Daily Telegraph. London, England. 3 August 2012. p. 32. Retrieved 29 April 2025 – via newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "The Return of Rowena the Wonderful". BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  29. ^ "English Rose". BBC Sounds. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
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