Lisa Blower

Lisa Blower is an Award-winning English short story writer, novelist, academic and workshop facilitator. She won the Guardian National Short Story Award and was listed for the BBC National and the Sunday Times Short Story Awards.

Lisa Blower was born in Stoke-on-Trent. She is a graduate of Sheffield Hallam University (BA Hons), the University of Manchester (MA) and holds a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Bangor (2011).

Before her literary journey, Lisa excelled as a Marketing and Events manager in commercial radio. Her accomplishments include launching three regional radio licences and clinching prestigious awards like 2 Sony Awards and a National Cream Award for Marketing Excellence in 2000.

The turning point in her career came in 2009 when Blower clinched The Guardian’s National Short Story Competition with Broken Crockery. Its poignant narrative centred around a young girl grieving the loss of her grandmother, demonstrated Blower's ability to blend grief with whimsy as the protagonist imagined her grandmother with Margaret Thatcher.

Following this triumph, Barmouth made the shortlist for the 2013 BBC National Short Story Award with Barmouth, based on a family holiday to Wales.

Lisa Blower wrote her debut novel, Sitting Ducks (2016), a family saga set during the 2010 General Election. Her stories have garnered attention, earning spots on The Sunday Times Short Story Award longlist and The Bridport Prize longlist.

Her debut short story collection, It’s Gone Dark over Bill’s Mother’s, took nine years to craft and received praise from Kit De Waal for its captivating stories. She contributed to Kit De Waal’s 'Common People,' further solidifying her position as a distinctive voice.

Appointed as the inaugural Writer in Residence at Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery in 2016, Lisa wrote Green Blind, a modern reimagining of Mary Webb’s Gone to Earth, tackling fracking and land ownership issues in rural Shropshire. Her second novel, Pondweed, was published by Myriad Editions in 2020.

Blower is a member of the Centre for Studies of Home, the European Network for Short Fiction Research, and the Working-Class Studies Association. Her dedication to fostering literary talent is evident in her roles as an Arvon tutor and mentor for the Word Factory Apprenticeship Scheme and New Writing South.

Blower served as the festival director and curator of the 2015 Wenlock Poetry Festival. Additionally, she is on the board at Writing West Midlands.

Lisa Blower is currently working on her third novel, The Mongrels, and a follow-up short story collection, Renovations.

Photo credit: www.lisablower.co.uk