Thank you for joining me!

Hello there — I’m Abby, a writer and artist living in the U.K. My novels Flick, Golden Boy, and Dead Girls, are published in eight languages, by Picador here and Simon & Schuster in North America. I’m a recipient of awards and grants from Arts Council England & the National Lottery, American Library Association (Alex award), Society of Authors, Authors’ Foundation & K. Blundell Trust. Read more about my novels here.

I’m also a development editor and mentor, working with writers, publishing houses, and/or agencies. If you’re interested in this side of my work, learn more here.

How The Light Gets In is my newsletter, sharing reflections on building a values based arts and writing practice centering truth, community, gentleness, sustainability, and public good.

If you’re interested in writing and art-making as socio-cultural activism, the creative process of a working novelist, and following along as I build my community arts practice, you’re in the right spot.

I also have two new sections for 2025, one on my Journal Art, and another on being a loss mum—you have to sign up for this last one separately from the main newsletter (you can also set it up so you get the posts but they appear only in the app). This is so as not to inadvertently trigger difficult emotions for loss parent readers.

I hope to share inspiring, affecting, thought-provoking essays, from a writer and artist who still believes in her heart that art and literature can change the world. Don't give up hope. Subscribe. Make art. Believe in the power of us. Join me to find the cracks, where the light gets in.

You can support my work in several ways

  1. purchase a novel for yourself or a friend (I am trying to set up a bookshop.org affiliate account so this link can be to independent sellers, with technical issues — use this link to a corporate monolith or check back soon!)

  2. buy an ebook, epamphlet, zine or chapbook on Etsy (shop updates soon)

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Life and art: a podcast, photography, yarn crafts, writing, reading

Press Bio

Abigail Tarttelin is an award-winning author, as well as a screenwriter, actress, and musician, best known for GOLDEN BOY - "a grippingly innovative" coming-of-age novel with a "radical non-binary, pro-intersex message" (Hida Viloria, Autostraddle).

GOLDEN BOY is an American Library Association Alex Award winner, finalist for Best LGBT Debut LAMBDA Award, a Booklist Top 10 First Novel, a School Library Journal Best Book, and is published in 9 languages. A Duck Soup/BBC Films feature adaptation is underway with Abigail as co-screenwriter.

Foreword Reviews gave follow-up DEAD GIRLS 5 stars, calling it "a heart stopping horror novel and a frightening coming-of-age story". Abigail is developing DEAD GIRLS for TV. GQ dubbed Abigail's debut novel FLICK a "cult classic".

In 2024, Abigail was awarded Ace Council England / The British National Lottery funding for her forthcoming works, including ground-breaking podcast WRITING COERCIVE CONTROL.

Abigail's past work includes books editor at Phoenix magazine, editor of I HOPE YOU LIKE FEMINIST RANTS zine, and lead singer/lyricist of GIRLBOY. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Glamour, On Comely, and The Huffington Post. She is a Moviescope One to Watch actress, a past juror for the British Independent Film Awards and Nibfest Write-a-thon, a recipient of awards from The Authors Foundation and K Blundell Trust, and a member of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.

Abigail is currently developing a creative health community arts practice, blogging on Substack, writing a new book, and publishing pamphlets for social change.

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Reflections on values based practice from an award-winning writer and artist.

People

Writer & artist, represented by The Book Group, NYC. My novels are Flick, Golden Boy, & Dead Girls.