Emily Barr

Emily Barr
Born
Emily Venie Barr

(1971-10-10) 10 October 1971 (age 55)
Howden, Yorkshire, England
EducationThe Courtauld Institute of Art
Writing career
LanguageEnglish
Years active2001–present
Genres

Emily Venie Barr (born 10 October 1971) is a British novelist writing mainly psychological thrillers and travel fiction. She started her career as a journalist for The Guardian in the 1990s, and debuted with the acclaimed novel Backpack in 2001. She wrote a dozen of adult novels before transitioning into young adult fiction with The One Memory of Flora Banks in 2016. Barr has also taught creative writing at the Falmouth University and the Faber Academy, among others.

Early life

Barr spent her early childhood in York and then grew up in Norfolk. She attended Norwich High School for Girls before going on to study at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She has spent some of her teenage years in South Wales.

Emily has been interested in becoming a writer since her early years. She has cited Agatha Christie and Margaret Atwood as the authors who inspired her to pursue writing.

Career

In the 1990s, Barr started working as a journalist for The Guardian, writing a column titled "The Other Half". In 1998, she embarked on a year-long work trip around the world, writing a travel column as she went, visiting Brazil, the US, New Zealand, Australia and Southeast Asia, among others. While in Bangkok, Thailand, she appeared as an extra in the film The Beach. The journey inspired her first novel, Backpack, published in February 2001 by Headline Publishing Group. The book was a commercial and critical success, and won the WHSmith New Talent Award in 2002. In September 2002, Barr published her second novel, Baggage, which received mixed reviews. Her subsequent novels, such as Cuban Heels and Atlantic Shift, leaned into the chick lit genre.

Barr released a sequel to Backpack in September 2009, titled The Life You Want, which received mainly positive reviews. Her 2011 novel The First Wife, set in Cornwall and Barcelona and taking inspiration from Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, was also met with positive reception. In May 2012, Barr released Stranded, followed by The Sleeper in July 2013, which forayed more into crime fiction. In 2014, she released a novella, Blackout, for the Quick Reads series.

Her first young adult novel, The One Memory of Flora Banks, was published by Penguin Books as an ebook in 2016 and paperback in 2017. It has been translated into 26 languages and has sold over 50,000 copies. Barr followed it with another young adult book, The Truth and Lies of Ella Black in 2018. Her first horror novel, We Hear Voices, was released only in the US by Berkley Books in late 2020 under the pen name Evie Green. In May 2021, after a year-long delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Barr published Things to Do Before the End of the World which tackled the topic of climate change. Her 2022 novel Ghosted, blending love story and murder mystery, received positive reviews.

In 2024, Barr contributed a short story in the anthology 13 Cornish Ghost Stories. In 2025, she spent a month in Kraków, Poland, representing her hometown of Norwich during UNESCO's City of Literature programme.

Personal life

Barr met her partner Craig in China, while travelling around the world in the late 1990s. After living in Brighton, they moved to the South of France, spending several years in the Landes region, before relocating to Falmouth, Cornwall in 2008. They have three children.

Barr has expressed support for the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats, and a strong disapproval of Brexit.

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ "Emily Barr". faberacademy.com. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  2. ↑ "Emily Barr". Sue Leonard. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  3. ↑ Downes, Steve (23 June 2011). "Top author Emily Barr is one of the first guests at Norwich High School for Girls' £1.1m sixth form centre". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  4. ↑ "Emily Barr: an ode to friendship". Stylist. 13 September 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "Desert Island Books with Emily Barr". Penguin Books. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2024 – via YouTube.
  6. ↑ "Who Is Your Favourite Female Author?". Penguin Books. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2026 – via YouTube.
  7. ↑ Victoria Gallagher (22 January 2009). "Raising of the Barr". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 27 September 2026.
  8. ↑ "2 Truths & 1 Lie! with Author Emily Barr + Giveaway". Penguin Books. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2023 – via YouTube.
  9. ↑ John Ezard (10 April 2002). "McEwan's novel wins prize at last". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  10. ↑ "BAGGAGE". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 25 October 2026.
  11. ↑ "BAGGAGE". Kirkus Reviews. 15 November 2002. Retrieved 25 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Helen Falconer (28 June 2003). "A lonely road". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  13. ↑ Maxine Gordon (16 June 2004). "Atlantic Shift, Emily Barr (Review, £12.99); No Wonder I Take A Drink, Laura Marney (Black Swan, £". The Press. Retrieved 3 August 2026.
  14. ↑ Laura Barnett (31 October 2009). "Chick-lit roundup". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 November 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2026.
  15. ↑ Saaz Aggarwal (8 November 2009). "The India you want to read about". Mid-Day. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  16. ↑ "Author Interview: Emily Barr". Not-So-Modern Girl. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  17. ↑ Jane Carter (2 July 2014). "Reading Cornwall". Shiny New Books. Retrieved 1 October 2026.
  18. ↑ Laura Barnett (11 November 2011). "Fiction in brief – reviews". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  19. ↑ "Review: The First Wife by Emily Barr". The Welsh Librarian. 16 July 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2026.
  20. ↑ Laura Barnett (11 November 2011). "Fiction in brief – reviews". The Bookbag. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  21. ↑ Michelle Peckham (6 January 2013). "Review - Stranded by Emily Barr". Euro Crime. Retrieved 30 September 2026.
  22. ↑ "The One Memory of Flora Banks". emilybarr.com. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  23. ↑ "Author Interview with Emily Barr". The Artsy Reader. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  24. ↑ "Creative TALKS: An interview with YA fiction author, Emily Barr by Oliver Vince". Falmouth University English & Creative Writing. 13 December 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  25. ↑ "Emily Barr & Craig Barr-Green on writing YA & children's books". Curtis Brown Creative. 24 February 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  26. ↑ Alex O'Connell (11 June 2022). "Ghosted by Emily Barr review — Groundhog Day meets Memento in a thoroughly enjoyable love story". The Times. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  27. ↑ "Fiction Friday: Book Review- Ghosted by Emily Barr". Playground of Randomness. 13 May 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  28. ↑ "'13 Cornish Ghost Stories': new anthology published by three senior lecturers". Falmouth University. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 8 October 2026.
  29. ↑ "'Writing and walking: my month in Krakow' by Emily Barr". National Centre for Writing. 12 January 2026. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  30. ↑ "Emily Barr | faq's". hoddersystems.com. 2004. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  31. ↑ "Anything to declare? Just him..." The Guardian. 11 February 2001. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  32. ↑ "Blog". emilybarr.com. 2010. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2026.
  33. ↑ "Author Emily Barr reveals how Cornwall kick starts her creativity". Visit Cornwall. 12 November 2013. Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  34. ↑ Emily Barr (7 September 2010). "My son's experience in a French school was not a good one". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  35. ↑ "Unlocking the secrets of the south of France". The Guardian. 2 March 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2026.
  36. ↑ "The ex-mistresses' poll". New Statesman. 4 April 2005. Retrieved 20 July 2026.
  37. ↑ "S2, Ep 2 Words in a Time of Lockdown: Emily Barr". 2 March 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2022 – via YouTube.