Sara Maitland grew up in Galloway and studied at Oxford University. Her first novel, Daughters of Jerusalem, was published in 1978 and won the Somerset Maugham Award. Novels since have included Three Times Table (1990), Home Truths (1993) and Brittle Joys (1999), and one co-written with Michelene Wandor — Arky Types (1987). She is also the author of The Book of Silence (2010) and Gossip from the Forrest: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairytales (2012). Her short story collections include Telling Tales (1983), A Book of Spells (1987) and On Becoming a Fairy Godmother (2003). Her short story ‘Far North’ was adapted for the screen by Asif Kapadia in 2007 and starred Sean Bean and Michelle Yeoh. Her full collection of science-inspired stories, Moss Witch, was published by Comma in 2013.

Talk: How to Write Science Fiction