Hattie Holden Edmonds
Born in Sarratt, a sedate little village in Hertfordshire, I had a Merchant Ivory childhood, what with the croquet lawn, the ponies and the Laura Ashley leg o'mutton sleeved dresses. A strict boarding school with little white gloves worn in church on Sundays, was followed by Exeter University and studious amounts of cider. It was only when I bolted to Berlin aged twenty to learn to speak German for a year that life took a sharp left turn. Shacking up in an old sewing machine factory in Kreuzberg, hanging out in Nick Cave's Neukölln bar (Riesiko) and spending any free cash at Kino Eiszeit (where I saw my first Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch films), I finally found my tribe.
Four years later, I returned to London, working as the correspondent for the German pop magazine Bravo interviewing pop stars from Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz and Oasis to Meatloaf, Iron Maiden and Take That. But however jammy the job was, asking celebrities what they ate for breakfast and where they bought their trainers/makeup, felt a little shallow. Like most people, I dreamt of doing something I was passionate about and which might make a smidgeon of a difference.
Eventually, an open-minded friend urged me to visit a psychic to see if they'd be able to point me towards my passion (whatever that might be). According to Teresa Leong at the London College of Psychic Studies, I was going to write ‘funny’ books, which would have a spiritual theme and which would encourage more 'cynical souls' like myself to broaden their perspective. Yeah, right, I thought as I left. That was a waste of fifty quid.
A bizarre set of events followed, which ended up with me getting the job of in-house writer at Comic Relief. For two and a half years I worked on projects with some of my heroes including Armando Iannucci, Sacha Baron-Cohen, Steve Coogan, Dawn French and Sally Phillips. I also wrote serious stuff - interviewing Rwandan widows, child carers and people with Alzheimer's. During that time, I had the idea for my first novel, inspired by a true story of a woman who ‘saw’ a film of her life during a near-death experience.
Now I write full time and am currently working on a non-fiction book about the heart. I also run ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ sessions as part of a Social Subscribing team as well as managing the wondrous House of Talents community.
If you still have any pressing questions, you can contact me here.
Love Hattie