Sherry Ashworth

Biography

Sherry Ashworth was a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Manchester Writing School from 2006 until her retirement in 2012. She returned to the School as a Visiting Teaching Fellow in August 2013. 

Sherry taught in secondary schools for several years, has written features for many major newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, has reviewed for the Times Literary Supplement, and has written columns for Manchester Evening News and the Big Issue.

She has written several books for adults and young adults, set wholly or partly in Manchester. Her first published book was A Matter of Fat (1991), a comic novel for adults about a slimming club. This was followed by several more adult novels including Personal Growth, a sequel, in 1993; No Fear (1996); Money Talks (1997); and Just Good Friends (1998).

Her first book for young adults was What's Your Problem? (1999), on the theme of bullying. Disconnected (2002) is about exam pressure. Blinded by the Light (2003), a thriller about a teenage boy who is drawn into a cult, was shortlisted for the Lancashire County Library Children's Book of the Year Award and won the 2003 North East Book Award. Paralysed (2005) won the South Lanarkshire Book Award and the Leicester Book of the Year Award and is about someone dealing with a spinal cord injury. Since then she has written three other books for young adults Close Up (2006), Revolution (2010) and Mental (2013).

She has also written three non-fiction books for teenagers: two GCSE guides, English Language (2001) and English Literature (2001); and Fat (1997), which deals with body image.

Contact: writingschool@mmu.ac.uk 

Personal website: www.sherryashworth.com