Authors [A ]

Claire Allan,

Author of Rainy Days & Tuesdays

 

Claire is currently working on her second novel, which has a working title of Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

Claire Allan is a 30-year-old self confessed ‘slummy mummy’ from Derry.

Born and raised in the sunny North-West, she spent five years in Belfast while studying at the University of Ulster before returning to her home town in 1999 to start working with the Derry Journal. She’s now a senior reporter with the ‘Journal’ and holds the accolade of being the first female columnist for the paper. Her weekly column ‘Skirting the Issue’ was launched in August 2002.

She is also an occasional contributor to www.trashionista.com - a website dedicated to chick lit!

Claire is the second of four children. She has two sisters and one brother - Peter Davidson - who is a comedy writer who has written for Radio Ulster.

She met her husband, Neil, 10 years ago and persuaded him to leave his native England and move to Derry. They married in 2001 and have one son, three year old Joseph.

In 2006, in the run up to her 30th birthday, Claire decided to write her first novel. She finished her first draft in June (two weeks short of the big day) and signed with agent Ger Nichol of The Book Bureau in June.

Claire describes signing with Poolbeg as “a dream come true” and is “very excited” about the launch of Rainy Days and Tuesdays.

Books

Rainy Days & Tuesdays

 

Grace, Parenting Editor of a monthly glossy, was once the glamorous Health and Beauty Editor. Now she still looks like she’s nine months pregnant two years after childbirth and is devastated when the office bimbo, stick-insect Louise, announces: “I need you to lose weight.”

Grace has been chosen by the magazine to undergo the ultimate make-over for a feature. Overcoming her first reaction (which is to murder Louise), Grace decides to go for it – not realizing it will involve taking happy pills, crying torrents in front of her hard-nosed editor Sinéad, being weighed in public, and wondering whether or not she wants to stay married . . .