Dr Hannah Stevens

Hannah Stevens is a writer currently based in Leicester, UK. She writes short stories and flash fiction and her work has featured in numerous anthologies, magazines and literary journals. Her debut short story collection Without Make-up and Other Stories was published in 2012. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Leicester. Hannah teaches creative writing workshops in a range of educational settings and the community, and is involved in various freelance writing projects. When not writing, she works part-time in the voluntary sector. She lives with her house-rabbit Agatha.

Hannah has a portfolio of professional and creative publications that includes her own standalone collection of short stories. Her creative work has been featured in a number of print anthologies and online short story and flash fiction websites. A few of these are listed below:

‘The Best Way to Kill A Butterfly,’ Unthology 10: Fight or Flight, Unthank Books, to be published July 2018

‘Bones,’ to feature in a drinking stories anthology published by Valley Press in 2018

‘Fading,’ to feature in the anthology Canthology published by Cant Books in 2018

‘Gabriel,’ featured in LossLit Magazine, Issue 4

Q: If you could travel in the past, which one of the great writers would you like to meet and why?

A: Daphne Du Maurier. Her short story The Birds bowled me over when I first read it and inspired me to try my hand at short story writing. Her short story collections are absolutely brilliant and I’d be interested to hear what inspired her.

Q: Do you have a lucky writing talisman? If so, what is it?

A: I don’t have a lucky talisman for writing but I do prefer a certain set of conditions when I write. I need to drink lots of tea and have a radio playing in the background. My house-rabbit Agatha often sits by my feet under the desk, too. And she’s lovely company when I’m writing.

Q: Is there a book that you keep going back to and how many times have you read it?

A: Daphne Du Maurier’s The Birds and Other Stories. I love the tension in the title story. I also love ‘The Apple Tree’ and ‘The Old Man’ in that collection. Joyce Carol Oates High Lonesome, Selected Stories 1966-2006 is another book I keep returning to. Oates’ short stories are devastatingly brilliant. They often explore tensions around gender and the domestic sphere. Her stories are dark and immaculately crafted. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve read both of these books.